Star Fox: Darkness Rising
by rainfyre66
Summary: Lylat is at peace, yet there is a sense of unease in the air. When Corneria receives a distress call from the Beljar system and Star Wolf is killed, former friends Fox & Falco reluctantly combine forces to battle Pigma Dengar, but not all is what it seems
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Ah, General Hare. Good to hear from you, old friend," spoke the image of Dash Bowman, the young but effective Prime Minister of the planet Venom, from the transmission screen.

General Peppy Hare leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands around his cane. "I certainly can't argue with the "old" statement," he said. "Which is why I requested this meeting. I'm not getting any younger, and with the passing of General Pepper…"

"Rest his soul," Bowman interjected, bowing his head respectfully.

"Yes. The passing of General Pepper has only made me realize my own mortality. Things will be coming to an end here for me at any time now, and it's best that I have a proper successor to my position, one that is fully trained and ready for the responsibility before I leave this world."

"Sir, are you suggesting your retirement?" Bowman asked

"That is exactly what I'm suggesting."

Bowman nodded. "Now is a good of time as any. The Lylat System is finally at peace. Venom has returned to its natural state, and our militaries are a strong allied force. There have been no real threats to our tranquility in years."

Peppy hesitated before replying. Yes, all had been quiet, perhaps too quiet. Even amongst the peace, he sensed a growing unease for a long time. Maybe it was all in his head, what with his shaky history with Lylat's now renowned Star Wolf team, who had gone from an amoral rogue squadron-for-hire to forerunners of the CDF, and he still could not forget the fact that Dash Bowman came from the same bloodlines as Andross, the insane simian who'd made several attempts to overthrow the Lylat System.

"Yes," he finally said. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Bowman smiled sadly. "Do you feel it to, sir? I cannot deny there is still an air of uncertainty, or distrust, among the galaxy. I feel it myself. I know there are still whispers throughout our planets' populations, but I assure you all intentions are good."

Peppy smiled back. "Prime Minister Bowman, we have always said you are not only a brave, intelligent, and skilled leader, but you're also intuitive with a pure heart. You have yet to prove us wrong."

"Thank you, sir. So, who do you have in mind as successor? Colonel Bill Grey, I suppose? He would make a fine leader."

Peppy nodded. "Colonel Grey has been chosen. He will begin training tomorrow." He paused, then finally asked, "Have you heard from Fox McCloud recently?"

"Last I heard, he and his most recent team did a small job on Eladard. It was more of a 'domestic disturbance', really. That was awhile ago, I haven't heard too much about them for oh, a couple years now. They do odd jobs here and there, apparently Fox spends most of his spare time entering the races, I hear he's not too bad on a good day." He cocked his head curiously at Peppy. "Were you considering him for General?"

"Fox McCloud is an ideal but unrealistic choice at this time. Oh, I understand I'm biased in my thoughts, besides, I can't let the past make decisions for the present and future."

"Well, Colonel Grey is certainly an excellent choice, General Hare, although he does have big shoes to fill, following you."

"I'll always appreciate your support, Bowman," Peppy said genuinely. "And I appreciate you taking your time for this meeting."

"It was no trouble, General Hare. I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to working with Colonel Grey. This is Dash Bowman, signing off." He saluted at Peppy, and the transmission screen went black.

Peppy stared at the blank screen for a moment, then rose from his seat (which, he had to admit, even that task was getting to take a bit of effort) to the large window that overlooked Corneria City. Below, the city was bustling with activity. People walked along the streets, air ships and ground vehicles weaved around skyscrapers. Everything appeared as it should. His eyes lifted to the sky where the sun was setting on the horizon. Soon billions of stars from Lylat and the surrounding systems would begin twinkling through the darkness. As he studied the sky, he thought again of Fox McCloud, of where he was now and if he'd ever see him again. Fox had been in Peppy's life since he was a pup, until the recent years when they drifted apart from each other. Peppy was focused on running the CDF, and Fox did, well, whatever it was that Fox was doing, brooding and racing as the Star Fox team floundered, if the rumors were true.

The Lylat system had been won over by the Star Wolf team, and even though they had yet to give Peppy a reason to doubt them after guiding them over the years, he never felt a closeness with Wolf O'Donnell or any of the other team members. It was strictly business, he supposed the wariness between them would never completely fade. Then there was Star Falco, another star fighter squadron led by another old friend and former team mate of Peppy's- Falco Lombardi. They had become very successful and were too busy adventuring around other systems to bother with old Peppy Hare, it seemed. He really wasn't surprised, it had always been Falco's nature to answer the call of wanderlust and adventure.

He went over to his desk and studied a framed and faded photograph he kept under his lamp. The photo was taken right before Star Fox had set out on their first fateful mission against Andross. Slippy Toad was smiling broadly and waving at the camera, a much younger Peppy wore a professional smile, Falco gazed coolly at something in the distance, and Fox stared intensely at the camera, a slight smirk on his face that made him look very much like his father, James.

"Father?"

Peppy jumped at his daughter's voice. Lucy Hare put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "Should I come back later?"

"No, no, you are fine. What did you need, honey?"

"Bill wanted to double check what time he is to report to you tomorrow, and I told him I'd check for him. Seven A.M., correct?"

Peppy gritted his teeth at his daughter's barely contained fondness when she said Bill's name. "Lucy, you should really refer to him as Colonel Grey. And yes, seven A.M."

"Bill doesn't mind, he prefers I call him by his first name."

"Well, I'm your father and I prefer you call him Colonel Grey."

Lucy picked up the photograph. "You really wish that Fox had stuck around so he could take your place, don't you?"

Peppy chuckled. "Either you and Prime Minister Bowman are extrememly intuitive, or I am that obvious."

"You are that obvious," Lucy laughed. "But Father, Fox McCloud is not the man he once was. He's become an unstable, almost reckless leader. Those who do join his team leave shortly after because of that…even me," she said guiltily.

Peppy grasped her hand. "Lucy, darling, you know I don't fault you in any way for leaving Star Fox. You did what was right for you."

"I love you, Father. And I think Bill will do a wonderful job." She bent down and kissed his cheek, then left.

"That's COLONEL Grey, you hear?!" Peppy called after her. Then he leaned back in his seat, his mind still pondering the past, present, and future, and how it would all tie together, when he heard a signal start to come over the transmitter…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_Fox was wandering alone on the deserted streets of the planet Kew. He was lost and needed to meet his team mates, he wasn't sure why, but he was overcome with a sense of urgency and loneliness. He was also suddenly aware that he was being watched. He turned around, but there was nothing but buildings and alleyways. He instinctively put his hand on his blaster and kept moving. He tried focusing on figuring out where he needed to go, but there was no way to deny it- he was being followed. The street lights went out with an electronic "bzzzt", followed by a loud metallic clang. Fox whirled around with his blaster ready._

_A figure emerged from an alleyway. The only light was from the next street over, making the person a silhouette with no distinguishing features. However, Fox noted that the size and shape of the body was very familiar- it looked remarkably like his own._

_"Lost? Follow me." It was his father's voice that spoke. Fox opened his mouth to try and say something, but nothing came out. His father turned and began walking very fast. Fox hurried to keep up. James McCloud led Fox into a crowded and noisy bar, disappearing into the mass of people. Fox was looking around, trying to find him, when he heard Slippy Toad call out, "Fox! Over here!"_

_Fox looked over and saw his friends sitting at a table. He nodded at them and went over to the bar to order a drink. A svelte female fox he had never seen before was leaning against the counter, giving him an icy stare. Fox ignored her and took his drink, accidentally bumping her._

"_Pay attention. You should be more careful," she said in a threatening tone, then reached out to pull his face towards hers, and kissed him. When he pulled away, he jumped back. The fox had become his former love, Krystal._

"Fox! Hey, Fox! Get your butt out of bed, you're late!" Miyu Lynx's voice jolted Fox from his sleep. He shook his head. It was that same damn dream again. He was having that dream far more often than he cared to, and it always put him in a lousy mood.

"What? What's going on? Did somebody come in with a job for us?" he grumbled as he rolled out of the bed.

Miyu snorted. "Yeah, right. Did you hit your head or something when you went to bed last night? Hello, today's the Lunar Cup race!"

"Jeez, how the hell do I forget that?" Fox smacked his head. "Please tell me you or Hawkeye has a pot of coffee going."

"Way ahead of you, Chief," Miyu handed him a steaming mug. "Black and strong, Hawkeye's best blend."

"Thanks Miyu, you guys are the best," he sipped his coffee. "I'll be out in a minute, just need to wake up a little more."

Miyu left and Fox sat at the end of the bed with his coffee. He knew he should be focusing on the upcoming race, but he could never get his head on straight after having this dream. Why did he have to have this dream today? He growled to himself. His head was swimming with thoughts of his father, his old team mates, Krystal, and for some reason he could not shake the memory of a female bounty hunter he'd had a random run-in with on the planet Kew.

It had been at a crowded bar like in the dream, and she'd been staring him down with her cold, mask-like eyes. Finally he confronted her, and she replied in an expressionless voice, "I thought you were someone I knew. I guess not." She was an attractive woman in spite of her coldness, so he asked her what she was doing there. She pointed out a male wart hog in the distance.

"Omar Blunt has a large price on his head, and I'm here to collect it. The money _and_ the head, if you were going to ask," she said before trailing Blunt out a dark exit door. A couple of days there were reports of the killing of the notorious arms smuggler, Omar Blunt, that appeared to be the work of the bounty hunter named Kursed.

What it all meant, Fox did not know and now was not the day to figure it out. He went into the front room where Miyu was finishing breakfast and Devin Hawkeye was still working on ROB. Fox cringed at the sparks flying from ROB's metal abdomen.

"Any good news?" Fox asked Hawkeye, pointing at the old robot. Devin Hawkeye was the newest member of Star Fox, he kept to himself a lot but was loyal and a practically a genius when it came to mechanics and robotics.

Hawkeye lifted his protective mask. "Not much, I'm afraid. It's gonna take a lot of new parts. If we can get them, I could have him as good as gold, but it's gonna take a lot of money…"

"Which we don't have," Fox finished the sentence for him. Dealing with squabbling property owners and disgusting junkyard creatures just didn't quite pay the bills the same way that liberating solar systems did.

"Hey, if Fox can get a ranking spot today, that'll give us some cash. If he gets first, we'd have enough to fix ROB _and _fix up our ships," Miyu said, slinging her arm around Fox good-naturedly.

"Let's not start placing any bets, alright?" he snapped. Miyu removed her arm, confused. "I just mean, it's bad luck count your chickens before they've hatched, that's all," he said in a kinder tone.

Miyu shook her head. "Fox, you know you are a legend, right? Without you, there wouldn't be any Star Wolf, Star Falco, Star Rip-Off, whatever, teams. You have done so much for the galaxy, and not only are you a great hero, you're not too shabby of a racer either."

"The thing about legends, Miyu, is they get old after awhile, and people stop believing in them," Fox said wearily. "Besides, it was my father who started the team."

Miyu and Hawkeye exchanged a look. "You'll be fine," Hawkeye said, tossing Fox his racing gloves. He cocked a half smile. "Of course, you'd be better if they'd let me into the pit. I'd give your racers boosters they wouldn't believe."

*

On Corneria, the Star Wolf team listened to the transmission, straining to hear the message over the static. The transmission image itself was a distorted mess. The only clear image flashed at the very end, where a large mechanical bird was seen decimating a ship with fire. They were able to get the gist of the message though- a system known as the Beljar system was under attack by some force and was asking for help from the Cornerian army.

Peppy walked in front of them. "The danger is unclear, as you can tell, but they clearly need our help. I've checked the coordinates of the Beljar system. It is a seven planet system that is not too far from Lylat."

"Let me get this straight- you want us to just blindly jump right into some rescue mission that could pose a greater threat than something that even the whole Cornerian army couldn't handle? And you want us at the forefront of it?" blurted out the latest member of Star Wolf, Ivan Jackal.

Leon Powalski silenced him. "Never underestimate us."

Team leader Wolf O'Donnell gnawed on a toothpick and thought it over. "Well, Hare, both my team mates do make good points. We'll do it- at an increased price, of course."

Peppy sighed. "Of course."

"Know anything about the planets? Any major space stations or bases?" asked Wolf.

"It is all being researched as we speak," said Peppy. "We will be able to deliver the more information to you later tonight or early tomorrow morning at the latest."

"I hope not too early," said Panther Caroso. "I'll need to rest up if I'm to be in top shape for this."

"Ah, screw your beauty sleep, Panther," growled Wolf. "Let me see those coordinates, Hare." Peppy handed him the disk. Wolf held it up at his team mates. "Alright boys, let's go look these over and get ourselves started on a plan. Hare, you send us that info ASAP, and we'll head out…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Fox checked out his racer, making sure everything was as it should be. He waved at fellow racers who were congenial enough to shout things of encouragement to him, and gave out a rude gesture to those few that were jeering him. A voice on the overhead speakers went from advertising the latest music pod to announcing the racers' names. People cheered loudly at Fox McCloud's name, which boosted his confidence. Until…

"FAALLLCOOO LOMBARDI!" boomed the speakers.

"What the – " the last part of Fox's sentence was cut off by thunderous cheering. He'd been so wrapped up in his own head, he'd completely missed Falco on the roster or readying his own racer.

Falco was leaning against his ship, looking cocky as ever.

"So Falco, can't ever have any ideas of your own, huh? First Star Falco, now you've gone to try and take me in the races too?" Fox greeted his former friend.

"Actually, I considered changing the name, but we're such a household name by this point, it'd be bad business sense to do that," Falco yawned. "As for today, looks like I'll be the one leaving you in the dust this time."

"I'd like to see you try, good luck without having your team mates to back up your tail feathers."

"Speaking of teams, how's that going for you, Fox?" Falco winked at him before hopping into his racer. Cursing him for having the last word, Fox hopped into his craft, fueled by a new determination. Falco was going down.

With a bang, the racers were off. Fox pushed on the throttle, swerving past a line of hovering race crafts. He kept his eye out for the one with the distinctive red and blue stripes- Falco's. He tilted his craft on its side, squeezing in between two racers that were in dead heat with each other. He was now in the lead, but no way was he slowing down now. He put on more boost and spun around a hairpin turn. The racer behind him attempted the same maneuver and crashed into the wall, wrecking his craft. There was one down!

Fox turned his eye back on the prize. Another racer tried to speed around him but clipped its small wing on Fox's back end, spinning out. Fox didn't even look back. He pulled up on the yoke. These were intended mainly to hover, but he'd learned how to gain an impressive bit of altitude.

Suddenly he felt a jolt from beneath his racer, bucking it so it flung back and its tail end bounced a couple of times on the ground, sparks flying. Fox was able to right himself and stay on course. That had been one heck of a tricky move to glide in under a hovering craft, one that took one heck of a pilot. Fox had a feeling he knew just what pilot that was. The race was on!

*

Star Wolf was waiting in the hangar bay of the CDF base. Wolf and Leon passed a cigarette back and forth, "For luck!" Wolf would say to those who passed by with disapproving looks, shooting a large cloud of smoke at their backs.

Peppy and Bill Grey approached the team. "Your ships are set and ready for take off, whenever you are," Bill said. "Wolf, Leon, Panther, Jackal- I wish you luck. It's one hell of a risk you're taking, but if anyone can handle danger, it's Star Wolf."

Wolf nodded at him, flicking away the cigarette. "First destination is the planet Brea, on a minor military base that's been overrun. We'll send word when we arrive in the Beljar system."

"We'll send out fleets at your word. Don't hesitate to call for back up sooner if you need it."

Wolf signaled and his crew began getting into their ships. "Just a quick system check and we'll be out of here."

"Good luck, Star Wolf," Peppy saluted them. He and Bill went over to the radar screens. "This is General Hare, standing by," he said into the voice com.

"Wolf O'Donnell, systems check. Engine ok…Wing span ok…radar ok…voice com, check…G-Diffuser ok…retros ok. All systems go!"

"Leon Powalski, all systems go."

"Panther Caruso, all okay over here."

"Ivan Jackal here, all systems are go."

"Star Wolf, clear for take off," said Bill. The ships lifted off their mounts and exited the hangar bay in formation- Wolf in the lead, flanked by Panther and Jackal, followed up by Leon.

Peppy and Bill watched the radar screen as Star Wolf headed towards the Cornerian atmosphere. They were in conversation about the preparation of the CDF flagships when a panicked voice came over the voice com.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THE SYSTEM IS FAILING! ENGINE IS OVERHEATING RAPIDLY! MAYDAY! MAY- " the call was cut off by an explosion and a burst of static.

Outside, Cornerian soldiers and citizens that were watching Star Wolf's departure were shocked as an explosion as bright as the sun filled the sky. It seemed to rain fire. Inside, Peppy was desperately calling over the voice com, "Star Wolf, do you copy? Is everything ok? Do you copy Star Wolf?" He had a feeling he knew the answer.

"Sir," Bill called out. "We're getting a new transmission from the Beljar system."

Peppy came over. This transmission was much clearer and appeared to be sent out by the perpetrator itself. A hybrid creature of pig and machine filled the screen, speaking in a voice that Peppy knew all too well.

"So, Peppy old pal, I knew I could count on you to answer to the call of honorable duty. Did you really think I'd give my old friends in Star Wolf, those traitors, the chance to defeat me or my creations? Never!" croaked Pigma Dengar. "I have become far more powerful than you could ever believe, send your armies, I dare you! Even if you don't, I'll have Lylat soon enough. Tell Star Wolf I'll see them in Hell!" He gave a fiendish cackle and transmitter screen cut off.

*

Fox was lagging behind now, a few racers were tailing him. Falco was far ahead now. It would take everything he had. He hit the thrusters, readying himself for the pull ahead, but it did nothing but make the back of his racer sputter and wheeze. His boost engines had taken damage when they'd hit the ground. Fox cut off a racer who was suffering wing damage. The racer got angry and rammed the into Fox's side, spinning him out. Fox struggled to turn his ship, without thrusters it was difficult to make a U-turn. At that moment, Falco lapped him, purposely passing dangerously close to psyche out Fox. Fox pulled his ship right and took off. He was thrilled to see that Falco had stalled out, and that another racer, Eric Pride, had pulled ahead of Falco.

Suddenly, Fox's boosters kicked in. He pushed it as far as he could go, weaving dangerously around walls and other ships. He was making up lost ground, his speed building dangerously. Fox went to take another hair pin turn when he felt his craft begin to lose control. He released the thrust, but it was too late. As his boost rockets sputtered out, it slowed him down enough so that when he wiped out he wasn't hurt, but not enough to keep his racer from being totaled. Fox McCloud was out of the race.

Fox didn't really want to see Hawkeye or Miyu right after that disastrous race, yet it bothered him when he couldn't find them anywhere around the speedway afterwards.

"Hey Fox, way to go! That was some crash!" Falco called out, holding his second place trophy. His loyal team mate, Katt Monroe, was looking at him admiringly, glaring at any woman who was trying to approach Falco. Falco, of course, was oblivious to that.

Fox pointed at the trophy. "Congratulations on second place. I mean, second best is what you're used to, right?"

If Falco came back with something, Fox didn't hear it. He heard Miyu shouting his name as she ran across the speedway with Hawkeye.

"Fox! Fox! Sorry about the race, but who cares now anyway! A call just came in, somebody has a job for us! I hope your skills are not too rusty."

"Look, if it's another disgusting junkyard creature infestation, count me out."

"No, no. Nothing like that, not even close," Miyu shook her head. "It's a real job, a big job, and you won't believe who we need to report to…"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Peppy and Bill sat in the air traffic control tower, watching what seemed like the hundredth star squadron on the training field. This one was called The Avian Fighters, and while usually those of avian descent were naturally skilled pilots, Peppy was not impressed with them. Besides, their leader, a parakeet named Jose Carioca, seemed too high strung for the job.

Bill was trying to keep his patience. He knew Peppy was hoping for Star Fox or Star Falco to answer his call, but instead they got a large number of imitators. True, they weren't as skilled as the original Star teams (including the late Star Wolf), but it was clear that neither Fox or Falco was responding, so they had to choose at least one of these other teams, and soon.

"General, I really think these are the best we're going to get..."

Peppy sighed, but before he could answer, a voice buzzed in over the radio.

"General Hare, this is Lieutenant Spangler. You have another response team entering the training field."

Bill groaned in spite of himself until they went down to the field, where Lucy was leading Fox McCloud and his team over to them.

"Fox? Fox! It is you!" Peppy could not contain his excitement. "I knew it! I knew you'd answer our call. You're just like your father, he'd never resist a fight for justice- or the excitement!"

"Believe me, it was not easy to convince him," Miyu rolled her eyes. "I thought Hawkeye and I were going to have to drag him kicking and screaming."

"I- uh- it wasn't that bad!" Fox lied, wishing that he could slap a muzzle on Miyu sometimes. "General Hare, these are my partners- Miyu Lynx and Devin Hawkeye,"

"Yes, yes, very good! And don't start with the General Hare stuff, you can always call me Peppy you know."

"Father, Bill, I thought you might be thirsty since you've been out here so long. Would you like something to drink?" Lucy held out a couple of bottles to them. Bill took one with a smile and a thank you.

"Will you be flying on this mission, Lucy?" Fox asked. He still felt a bit of resentment over her leaving Star Fox, but there was no denying she was as talented as her father.

"No, I am part of the defense and combat strategy team. I'll be helping Bill coordinate flight routes and battle plans from the base."

"Colonel Grey, Lucy!" Peppy turned back to Fox. "Or should I say, General Grey, he is going to be my successor."

"Yeah, I heard. Congratulations, Bill," said Fox, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Thanks, Fox. How did you hear about that already?"

"I told them," Slippy Toad stepped out from behind the team. "They came to me on Aquas for help on getting parts for ROB and their ships, and I filled them in."

"Parts for ROB? What's wrong?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual robots getting old and falling apart stuff," Fox said vaguely, and quickly changed the subject. "So, Pigma is threatening the galaxy and Star Wolf is blown up in space? Something about this just doesn't seem right to me."

"Their ships exploded before even leaving Corneria. We have reason to believe that it was an inside job and are running a full investigation, Pigma might have a mole in the CDF that tampered with their ships. He made it clear he wanted them dead, there is no way Wolf could have survived the explosion…" Peppy said sadly. There had not been much time to think much about their death since it happened. Friends or not, they had achieved many honorable accomplishments in their run.

Lieutenant Spangler's voice came over the comm. link again. "General Hare, Prime Minister Bowman has landed, and says he has guests that should be of great interest to you."

"Copy. Please send him to the training field," Peppy replied. He happened to look up at the sky, where the Avian Fighters were now circling aimlessly, unsure of what to do at this point. "Oh, shoot!" Peppy muttered, then called for them to land. Jose Carioca and his team came over, eager to see what Peppy thought. "Er, actually, I thank you for your time, but we've decided to go with a slightly more experienced team, due to the danger that is involved in this mission. I thank you for your time. Again." Peppy extended a hand to them, but Jose merely sniffed at it, saying "Thanks for nothing, Bunny. Come on, team!" before stomping off the field, past Bowman and Falco Lombardi.

Fox and Falco stared at each other. "What are you doing here?" they asked at the same time. "Peppy sent out a call for us," they replied, again at the same time. This time they turned and stared at Peppy.

"I needed a top star fighter team," he said sheepishly. "And I knew I could count on both of you."

"Uh-uh. If he's in, I'm out," said Falco, starting to walk off the field. Bowman grabbed his arm.

"I was here first, you were late, as usual."

"Hey man, people want to talk to you when you place in a race. Then Star Falco was invited to a celebratory dinner on Venom for our recent accomplishments. Bowman here then said he'd personally accompany me to Corneria for recruitment." He turned to Bowman. "Did you know Fox would be here? Because that's not cool."

Fox turned to Slippy, "Did you know Falco would be here?"

This time both Slippy and Bowman were sheepish.

"Will you guys stop fighting? If I wanted to hear squabbling, I'd be home with my kids," said Slippy. "Look, Falco, you have a talented team, and Fox you're a great leader, but will need some help. Can't you two just put your differences aside? Maybe even be friends again?"

"No," they both said, glaring at each other.

"Listen Peppy, thanks for the call, but this won't work for us. Star Fox does things our own way," Fox said. "Right, guys?"

"Actually, working with Star Falco might not be a bad idea," said Hawkeye. "Our ships are in desperate need of repair, even with the parts Slippy was able to give us I can't get ROB to 100%. We could use this mission, Fox, and Beljar could certainly use us. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to have some back up."

"Hawkeye, you don't say much, but when you do, it's golden," said Miyu. "I'm in."

"Come on, you want back up, that's what the CDF is for," snapped Fox.

Falco held up his hands. "Hold up, I didn't agree to anything. It's not my fault your equipment is in the shambles, why should I back you up? Besides, my team hasn't cast their vote."

"Oh, we're definitely in," came a female voice. Katt and the rest of the team mates from Star Falco walked up. "This shouldn't be a matter of selfish pride, it's about keeping peace in the galaxy. We've already voted."

Bowman cleared his throat. "All in favor of Star Fox and Star Falco combining their forces to liberate the Beljar system?"

"AYE!" cried everyone except Fox and Falco.

"All opposed?"

"Nay!" shouted Fox and Falco.

Prime Minister Bowman shrugged. "Well, I guess that settles it then. You can't fight majority vote."

"Damn, I guess they're right," muttered Falco.

Bill clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Now, how about we rendezvous inside to formulate a plan, and follow that with some good dinner and drinks to catch us all up? That is," he glanced at Peppy, "if the General agrees."

Peppy put his hand on Bill's back. "It's like you read my mind, Colonel."

*

Meanwhile, on the planet Jericho, a gaseous planet in the Beljar system, the feared bounty hunter named Kursed looked out her window. There was nothing but dense yellowish brown clouds, which meant the sun was setting. She was staying in an abandoned homestead that was located near a deserted gas mine. She turned back and began loading her weapons and storing them in her strategic hiding places. Nobody ever suspected that she was a lethal and merciless bounty hunter until it was too late. Her ship was waiting on the landing deck, now all she needed was the call that gave the when and where and the fun could begin.

"Come in, Princess. I've got some news for you," the mysterious voice of the one who had given her the job came over the comm. link.

She sighed. "For the last time, I'm not a Princess, I'm a professional. Go ahead."

"They will be landing on the Brea Defense Base at roughly seventeen thirty. Can you get the job done?"

"There isn't a job I've failed yet. About the price, I'm inclined to ask for more. Isn't $15,000 a head a bit low for what you're asking?"

"Listen sweetheart, bring me the hunted and then we'll see about your bounty."

"Alright. But be warned, I can be a real bitch to negotiate with," she warned him. The last time her employer tried to lowball her, he ended up being the one coming up on the short end of the stick- literally. She shut off the comm. link before he could reply. Seventeen thirty, and then it would be done. She fingered a knife, enjoying the cold sharpness on her fingertips. Yes, she was full of surprises, and tomorrow at the Brea Defense Base would be one of the biggest surprises of all…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Star Fox and Star Falco broke through the atmosphere of the planet Brea. "It's beautiful," breathed Faye Spaniel, a member of Star Falco. They gathered at the window of the Falcon (Star Falco's equivalent of the Great Fox, which had seen better days. It had taken much argument to convince Fox that taking the Falcon was a wiser choice, of course.) to look down below at a green and mountainous planet with crashing waterfalls and colorful plant life.

"Look at that huge patch of wild flowers over there," Fox pointed out.

"Tell you what little girl, we'll park you down there to pick some posies while we go do some battling, and you can greet us at the rendezvous point with a nice bouquet," said Falco. Miyu tried unsuccessfully to smother a snort of laughter.

"You're _both_ acting like little girls," said Katt. "Keep an eye out for the refugee camp." They watched in horror as the beautiful landscape quickly became barren and burned from destruction.

"Are those animals down there?" asked Faye, pointing to some beasts down below. "What are they doing?" There was a stampede of animals that looked as if they were taking out everything underfoot. Hawkeye looked closer. "They could be animals, but they also look like machines. Hybrids maybe?"

"Weapons. He's combined animals with machine to make them into bio-weapons," said Fox

"That's sick," groaned Faye.

"Looks like Pigma learned a thing or two from Andross," Falco nodded. Fox was thinking the exact same thing, but didn't want to admit he was on the same page as Falco. He spotted the refugee camp. "There it is gang. ROB, Slippy, land the ship in that patch next to the camp."

Slippy readied the ship, but ROB was asleep at the controls. Hawkeye smacked him on the back and with a whir ROB came to life. "Are we there yet?" ROB asked.

"Yes, we're ready to land this thing," said Fox. "Team, ready your ships-"

Suddenly the Falcon was shook with laser fire. "Intruder! State your business!" a voice called from the voice com.

"Cease fire! We're Star Fox-"

"Star Falco!" Falco shouted into the voice com over Fox's shoulder.

"And we've been sent by the Cornerian Army to defend you. We're here to speak to General Felini!"

There was a pause and a muffled order to cease fire. "This is Colonel Bruen. Permission to land."

The Falcon landed successfully and the team filed off of the ship. "You coming, Slip?" asked Falco, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

"Nice try, Falco, but I already swore that I'm only here to help ROB fly this ship and do some ship maintenance. Amanda's already going to kill me…"

They were greeted by a band of worn down looking soldiers. Colonel Bruen was at the forefront of the group.

"I'm honored to have the help of such legends. It is a shame what happened to Star Wolf, but I am utterly grateful for your help, Star Fox and Star Falco. I must inform you, General Felini has gone missing, we believe Pigma Dengar's forces have seized him when they took over our base," said Colonel Bruen. "He is possibly located on the planet Evola, where Pigma is."

"Colonel Bruen, very little information has been given about what activity Pigma has been up to…"

"Beljar has a universal army, with stations on most planets, we are a very united system, only a few civil wars to our history. It is unknown exactly when Pigma landed on the planet Evola, but we presume he was secretly creating these hybrid monsters out of our native creatures, and had a few creations of his own, until he felt they were powerful enough to come out of hiding and threaten our armies. We were not as prepared as we should have been," he said, a bit shamefully. "Now, his creations are out of control, he has since banded together an army of unknown soldiers and a weaponry supply, as well as has made the prisoners of this war his servants, which we think is being done via mind control."

"Jeez," muttered Falco. "Who knew Pigma would have the brains to do all that?"

"You know this Pigma?"

"We go way back," said Fox. "General Hare has said that there are plans located within the base somewhere that give us some information on Pigma's weapons."

"Yes, General Felini has secured it and only this key can unscramble the code to the file in our mother computer," Colonel Bruen slipped something to Fox. "Pigma's soldiers do not know about this, so the plans should still be secure. The base is just up over those mountains."

There was a rumbling noise that nearly deafened their ears, then a high pitched squealing noise.

"Mechas approaching! On guard, soldiers!" shouted Colonel Bruen, extracting a plasma rifle. The soldiers also pulled out arms, readying themselves. "Pigma has wild herds of mecha-animals that aimlessly cause destruction to our planets, their attacks are unpredictable."

Fox readied his own blaster and signaled for the others to do the same. A stampede of mecha-animals thundered into the valley, quite possibly the same herd they'd viewed from the ship. They were heading for the camp, probably under order to destroy it. "Quick, head them off!" he shouted to his team mates.

"We'll back you," assured Colonel Bruen.

The mecha-animals were fierce, their pace never slowing as they approached. Falco fired his pulse ion blaster, taking out a few of them. Fox's own blaster was weaker, but was able to take down a couple. One of the animals knocked over Falco, but Katt blasted it away quickly, and she and Falco were able to take out the rest that were in his path before they trampled him. The remaining members of the herd grew defensive, bucking their heavy hind legs and snapping strong jaws. The sharp teeth of one came down on Star Falco member Scout Badger's leg. He cried out in pain, but was able to take him down. Miyu yelped and scored a shot at one that was about to pounce on Scout as he crumpled to the ground from the bite. Its body fell out of the air and landed on one of the few remaining. It yelped in pain and lamely took off over the hills, the last two followed it.

"They're backing off for now," Fox called out. "Is everyone ok?"

"One of the darn things bit me, I'm bleeding a bit but I should be alright," said Scout, rolling up the leg of his pants and wincing at the wound. Colonel Bruen instructed a soldier to take him to the infirmary tent. The eerie noise of the mecha-animals could be heard in the distance.

"They could be back, especially if Pigma discovers we are here. I think they ran off to send a warning and get reinforcements. Are your men equipped enough to hold down the defense?"asked Fox.

"Fox, we can't waste any more time. We have to get to that defense base," said Falco. "We'll leave Scout and one of the others here just in case while the rest of us hit it up."

Fox did not want to answer to Falco, but he knew he was right. He swallowed the argumentative response that was about to come out of his mouth. He turned to Colonel Bruen. "Okay, we're ready to make our move on the base. I have an idea, if we could borrow some of your uniforms…"

*

Kursed paced at the top of the hill, her impatience rising. Where were they? So far there had been no sighting of them at the base, and she'd been watching intently. Part of the reason she was so irritable right now was the creeping sensation that something was not right. She tried to shut it out of her mind, unless she sensed immediate danger there was no reason to distract herself with her thoughts and feelings. That's when mistakes happened, she'd learned. She'd become adept at shutting off her emotions, fine tuning her inner sensory to be more of a defense system, to anticipate an enemy or captor's move to protect herself and have the upper hand in a hunt.

"It's past eighteen o'clock and no sighting," she said into the comm. link, but there was no response. She heard the hideous noise from the mechanical beasts that overran the planet. She couldn't stand those things, they were disgusting and irritating. Luckily none had gotten to close to her yet, or they'd be sorry. The noise grew louder, and Kursed peered down into the valley below where a soldiers' refugee camp had been set up. A stampede or attack was taking place, and she squinted to get a better view at the ones who were fending them off. They didn't look like Beljar soldiers, and the familiar looking ship that was landed next to the camp gave her a clue as to who it might be.

She pulled out her binocular viewer. In the midst of the fight, she saw a rugged badger get bitten by one of the creatures and a female lynx shoot one out of the air. Impressive shot, she couldn't help thinking, but that was not what she was trying to see. As the remaining beasts ran off, she had a clear view of what she was looking for- a blue and red avian male and a male red fox, Falco Lombardi and Fox McCloud. Yes, that was Fox McCloud alright. She involuntarily drew in a sharp breath, her hand unconsciously grasping at the gun in her holster as she forced herself to close off her thoughts.

"No," Kursed whispered to herself. "It can't be. What are _they_ doing here?"

She turned sharply on her heel and marched down the hill towards the base. She couldn't promise that she wouldn't shoot first and ask questions later, but she would be waiting for them.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Peppy, Bill, Lucy, and Dash Bowman were reviewing the latest footage of the Beljar system that Slippy had sent them via the transmission screen. Peppy interrupted the image review for a moment.

"Slippy, do you know if Fox will be able to intercept the technical readouts of Pigma's weapons if the base is completely under Pigma's control?" he asked

Slippy's face filled the screen. "He should be able to. Pigma's soldiers are not aware of the files and don't have the code to access them, according to Colonel Bruen. I hope that's still the case."

Peppy nodded. "We have our first line of defense en route to Beljar."

"Venomian defenses are prepared to launch later tonight as well," added Bowman. "Having those files will make it that much easier to plan our attacks."

The screen cut back to the footage of the mecha-animal attack. Bowman let out a cry of pain as they watched Scout get his leg bitten and take down the beast. The others looked at him with concern. Bowman's eyes were squinched shut and he was rubbing his head with his hand.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I just got a splitting headache. I think I've been staring at this screen for too long. Been happening a lot lately."

Lucy looked concerned. "Have you gotten that checked out?"

He shook his head. "Just stress, I'm sure. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Let's take a break," suggested Peppy. "Prime Minister, go get yourself a glass of water and try to relax for a few minutes. General's orders!" he added playfully. Bowman nodded gratefully and staggered out of the room. Peppy followed, claiming he also needed a drink of water.

"Went to make sure Bowman really is okay, I'll bet. Your father is a good man, Lucy," said Bill. "I can see where you get it from. Not that you're a _man,_ I mean," Bill stammered as Lucy blushed. "It-it will be an honor to follow his footsteps."

"Thank you. Bill, I've never asked, why is it you never joined Star Fox?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, I made my way through the Cornerian Military Academy and just went straight into the CDF after that. Fox was always more adventurous than me, you know he dropped out of the academy, right?"

"No," she said, surprised. "I'd always assumed he made it through and decided military life didn't suit him."

"Well, that is basically what he decided," Bill laughed. "After he met Falco, he decided he'd rather convince General Hare to regroup a team like his father's. Not that he needed much convincing. Ironic isn't it, when you think that Peppy- excuse me, General Hare- is now the general of the CDF. Now, you tell me, why aren't you out there in Beljar with Fox and the team right now, a skilled pilot like you?"

"Oh, you know, a lot of reasons," she started to say, when Peppy and a pale but recovered Dash Bowman entered the room. "But this is more important," she said, turning back to the screen.

"What's not important?" Peppy asked sharply. Bowman smiled warmly at Peppy's protective instinct over his daughter.

"Just small talk, Father. _This_ is important," she pointed at the screen, unfreezing the image. At that moment, Fox's voice came over the voice com, "General Hare, we are entering Brea Defense Base."

*

"Hey, let's disguise ourselves in soldiers' uniforms. _That's_ never been done before, no one will suspect a thing!" Falco's voice was overflowing with sarcasm as they approached the base dressed in Beljar military guise.

"Shut it, Falco," snapped Faye. This surprised yet pleased Miyu. She didn't know Faye very well yet, but outside of combat she came off as friendly but almost prissy. Katt had assured Miyu and Star Fox that Faye was brave, with a natural grace and clear-headedness that was necessary in battles. And being disguised as a burly and dirty male soldier, no one could describe Faye as prissy right now. Miyu and Katt were also disguised as men. Hawkeye had been elected to stay behind at the camp, as he would be most efficient deploying ships or whatever was needed from the Falcon.

"Yes Falco, your plan of ambushing the base from our ships was much more subtle," Fox rolled his eyes.

"It would have been effective."

"Until you accidentally blasted the main computer…"

"Knock it off!" all three girls hissed.

They arrived at the main entrance and scanned their badges. Fox figured this would draw the least attention to them. The heavy doors slid open without an issue.

"Piece of cake," said Fox in a low voice. "Follow me. Act natural, but keep your guard up. When we get to the main computer center, I need Katt and Faye to stand guard while Miyu and Falco take out the security systems."

They filed through the main courtyard of the base, making sure they looked as if they knew where they were headed. Luckily, Fox had studied the base's layout beforehand, so he did have a good idea of where to go. It was easy to tell Pigma's soldiers from those that were under his control. Pigma's soldiers were large and brutish, with evil gleams in their eyes as they poked and prodded others with their weapons. The remaining Beljar soldiers had a vacant, robotic look to their faces and movements. Fox made a note to himself to try and not mortally wound the Beljar soldiers. Falco was thinking the exact same thing.

They crowded onto an elevator. "Camera in the corner. Try to keep your faces out of view," Fox said under his breath. They kept their heads bowed low until the elevator reached the computer center sub-level. The door slid open, revealing a room full of various computer systems, however, it was surprisingly almost empty except for two bored looking soldiers. Fox and Falco drew their stun guns and knocked them out. Katt and Faye positioned themselves on either side of the elevator door.

"Okay, Miyu and Falco, start blasting those security cameras and shut down the rest of the security controls, they should be on that computer over there. I'm going to try and get those files from the main."

"Not so fast," came a cold female voice. The voice was unfamiliar to everyone except Fox. He knew that voice all too well. He drew his blaster and turned to look into the eyes of Kursed, the bounty hunter who haunted his dreams.

"I wouldn't shoot those cameras. One is rigged up to an alarm that will set off an alert to the entire base and shut down power to the elevator, leaving you as sitting ducks," she said, not overly concerned with that possibility.

"Thanks for the tip," Falco said dryly. "I suppose you know which one?"

"Of course."

"And I suppose you're not going to tell us which one?"

"Maybe," she said, circling them like prey.

"What do you want with me? With us?" Fox asked. She stared him straight in the eyes.

"Where is Star Wolf?" Her voice was not expressionless anymore. Oh no, it was full of menace.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'd been tipped off that team Star Wolf would be arriving at the Brea Defense Base. You see, we were going to have a little meeting," she smiled slowly. "They may be hometown heroes in Lylat, but here, they're still worth more dead," she coolly appraised the crew. "They wanted what you're after here, so maybe we could still work something out, hmm?"

Fox was confused. "I don't get it. Haven't your authorities heard? Star Wolf is already dead."

"What?!" Her eyes flashed at this news.

" The Beljar military sent out a call for help from the CDF, and when Star Wolf set out on mission, their ships exploded before they even got out of Corneria. Sabotage. Pigma Dengar wanted them dead," Fox said, eyeing her carefully. Her eyes flashed again and this time Fox caught it- a quick flash of emotion that completely transformed her features. He lowered his blaster.

"Krystal?" he whispered, stepping towards her. But her face had already turned back to its hardened mask as she backed away, drawing her own blaster.

"Wrong!" she said dully. "Krystal is dead. I should know. I killed her."

She went over to the elevator, opening the door. "Oh, and by the way, it's _that_ camera over there." She blasted it away and escaped up into the elevator shaft as an ear-piercing siren and flashing red lights filled the room.

"_SECURITY BREACH ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! SECURITY BREACH ALERT!"_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Miyu and Faye ran inside the elevator to begin firing up the shaft at Kursed, but Fox stopped them. He handed off the code key to Falco. "Get the files, I'm going after her!" he shouted. Falco held him back.

"No, Fox, it's not worth it! You have to stay focused!" he shook him. He gave the code key back. "Get those files, I think I can shut off that alarm." He stunned the two soldiers on the floor a second time for good measure. Of course, he knew it didn't really matter, it was only a matter of minutes before they got swarmed by the enemy. He went to work on the security program. Miyu looked over his shoulder. "I've deactivated one of these before," she said excitedly, leaning on his shoulder to help him shut down the program. Katt's eyes instinctively narrowed

"I got you covered, Falco! Faye, cover Fox!" Katt called out.

"Thanks, Katt," Falco called dismissively over his shoulder. A welcoming silence filled the room as the alarm shut off.

Meanwhile, Fox waited impatiently for the computer to encrypt the code. "I'm waiting for the key to unlock the file so I can send it to you," he said to Slippy over his comm. link. "I need you to move the Falcon to the entrance to the base, we're about to have company. And I need you to watch for a non-military ship that is leaving the base and get its coordinates!"

"We have company!" shouted Faye. A second, concealed elevator door slid open. Fox sent out the files to the Falcon's computer and removed the key, praying the files had reached the system. The rest of his team were holding off soldiers as they moved towards the elevator. One by one they leapt up into the shaft, shimmying themselves up cables and swaying from side to side as they avoided shots. Soldiers began sliding down the elevator cables.

"Katt, Faye, cover the top. Falco and I got below!" Fox shouted. He called for the Falcon to send out Hawkeye and Scout in their ships. Katt was struggling with a soldier at the top of the cables. Both she and the soldier started to fall down the shaft. Falco reached out and was able to catch her by the arm. Fox helped boost her up as Falco wrapped his arm round her waist to pull her up to safety next to him.

"Hold together!" he snapped at her, relief flooding through him. Katt was a good team member, heck she'd given him the idea for Star Falco. He'd hate to lose her, even if he'd never admit it to anyone, not even himself. He removed his arm from her waist.

They reached the top of the shaft. More soldiers were at the ready, some manning turret cannons from the top of the base walls. Fox's head spun, he could not remember which way the exit would be, and they were starting to get outnumbered. One of the turret guns exploded with a loud boom.

"Score! I got you covered, Fox," said Scout from his ship.

" I've got the south side," chimed in Hawkeye.

"This way!" Katt called as another turret was decimated. They fled for the main entrance doors. Katt tried desperately to scan her badge, but nothing happened.

"It won't read! Fox, try yours!"

Fox tried scanning his, with no luck. Falco shoved him aside. "Cover me, I can hot wire this thing," he said.

"Oh great, we're all going to die because Mr. Cocky thinks he's clever enough to hot wire a door," he clicked on his comm. link in exasperation. "Hawkeye, Scout, lower your ships, we might have to hitch a ride to the Falcon. We can't get the doors to op-" he trailed off as the doors slid open. Falco was smirking triumphantly.

They dashed out the doors. The Falcon was waiting for them. The refugees from the Beljar Army and Colonel Bruen were also ready for combat. "We're taking our base back," he explained. "With their defenses lowered, we can take them. We also received word from General Hare that back up is on the way. Move in, men!" he shouted to his soldiers. He saluted the team. "Good luck , Star Fox and Star Falco!"

"Thanks," they both said. They boarded the Falcon. Scout and Hawkeye took out the last of the cannons and moved their ships into the docking bay. Cornerian defense ships could be seen in the distance.

"You think they'll be okay?" asked Faye, removing her helmet and shaking out her long silky ears.

Fox nodded. "With the CDF on their way, and the rogue soldiers and security system taken out, they should be."

"Incoming message from General Hare," said ROB. They all turned and looked at the transmission screen.

"Our defenses should have reached Brea by now, Fox. Did you secure the plans?"

"Yes, on both counts," said Fox. "Our team will begin analyzing them in a moment here and send them to you, we just had quite a row. We can count one base as liberated!"

"Great job, team! I knew I could count on you all. Now get to work!" he saluted them and signed off.

"Load that baby up, Slip," said Falco. The team gathered around the computer screen. Fox sunk into a chair He knew he should be thinking about the plans and preparing the next mission, but he could think about was Krystal. Kursed. Whoever she was now. She certainly wasn't the same woman he fell in love with years ago, the woman whose heart he'd ended up breaking. It'd been because of him that she'd joined Star Wolf long ago, was he the reason she had reinvented herself into that cold-blooded bounty hunter? And yet…yet what? They were here on a mission, and it wasn't a mission that was for him and Krystal to work out their issues. But still…

He went over to Slippy. "Hey, Slippy," he asked quietly. "Did you happen to see that ship I asked about?"

Slippy nodded. "It was heading for the planet Jericho. It looked a little familiar, is it someone we know? Or an enemy?"

"I don't know," Fox answered truthfully. Jericho. She was on Jericho. Falco had overheard the conversation and was looking at Fox with concern, but quickly looked away when Fox looked back over at him and went back to scanning through Pigma's weapons of destruction.

"Hey, Fox," called Hawkeye. "I just noticed something interesting. Come take a look at this…"

*

Kursed was flying her ship at top speed back to Jericho. Part of her didn't even want to return, to just leave whatever she had there behind and abandon the task at hand. Whatever that was. The sense of danger was growing stronger than ever, but she had no idea what was going on and needed to find out.

Star Wolf was dead? She could not believe that, did not like the sadness it spiked her with. They had a deal, a plan. She knew all along her mysterious employer was Pigma Dengar, though he tried to remain anonymous. She knew Pigma wanted Star Wolf out of the way, and that Pigma had all intentions of killing her too. The plan had been to set up the proposed hit job when they landed at Brea, where they could intercept the weapons files and then team up and catch Pigma off guard, killing him and splitting a hefty reward between them. Pigma had to have found out about the double-cross somehow and beaten them to the punch. And then there was Star Fox…

Who had brought them into the picture? It was some sick twist of fate. She'd lost control of her emotions and had almost blown everything when she blew her cover with Fox, whom she had been able to get one over on once (which was worse? needled that unwelcome inner voice she had grown to despise).

She desperately shook it off. She had to stay focused and not lose control again. Not with the danger that was mounting.

Just go! Her insides seemed to scream, but something else inside her was pulling her to stay, to figure out what the hell was going on.

She landed her ship at the abandoned homestead. Nothing looked out of place upon entry, everything was as she left it. Nevertheless, she began to quickly gather her belongings. To hell with it, this too much to deal with, she needed to save her own neck, and no way was she going to live in fear.

"Going someplace?"

Kursed turned around, her hand at her holster. Leon Powalski stepped out of the shadows, wearing the familiar but still creepy grin he always had when he was about to take down an enemy.

"Leon," she said, not completely relieved. "How- I just heard you were dead! I went to the rendezvous point and ran into Star Fox and Star Falco instead of you guys!"

"Hmm," he said. "I don't think Panther would be pleased to hear you had another reunion with Fox McCloud. Must you always break his heart?"

"Leon, cut the crap and tell me what is going on," she said threateningly, pulling the blaster out of the holster this time.

"Kursed, one of the galaxy's most ruthless bounty hunters. Oh, I don't doubt you'd kill me right now," he said, almost mockingly. "I have taught you well, it's good to know that our time working together wasn't a complete waste. You know, it's funny, when we were on the same team, we got on the least, but we're really not so different, you and I…" Leon reached for something, Kursed was about to fire her pistol, but dropped to the ground, unconscious. Leon had placed a mask over his mouth and nose as chloroform gas filled the room and three more masked figures came out of hiding to look down upon their prize…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Fox studied the readouts of Pigma's weapons. Beljar analysts had obtained diagrams and statistics of his most major weapons. They were impressive machines, even Fox and Falco had to admit they were impressed at Pigma's technical aptitude. He seemed to favor blending live animals with machine, probably inspired by his own state. The one Beljar seemed to fear most was a hybrid known as the "Galactic Phoenix"- an enormous bird of prey melded with machine that was equipped with intense fire power and nearly invincible armor that could hold through explosions and be easily repaired, hence the name "phoenix".

"Fox, so far no one has heard of any Professor Andorf in the any of the intelligence units," said Peppy from the video transmitter.

"Hmm," said Fox. That was not what he wanted to hear. He'd been hoping the strange "Professor Andorf" signature that appeared on each weapons diagram had been added by someone in the intelligence unit. "You know what that means, don't you?"

Falco nodded. "Pigma probably had help with this. I knew this seemed a little bit beyond his brain power."

The other team members held their breath, waiting for another argument to ensue. Could it be their leaders actually agreed on something? The two former friends glanced at each other, and then looked away.

"Professor Andorf…if Pigma had help, do you think this Professor Andorf knows what Pigma is doing with these inventions, and if so, is he still helping Pigma?" Fox wondered.

"That's a good question, Fox. We'll have to keep our eyes out for anything. No one's heard of any Professor Andorf other than those signatures," Peppy said.

"Andorf…Andorf…Peppy, is Dash with you?"

"He's with Bill and Lucy at the moment coordinating battle plans."

"I need to ask him something."

Peppy went and retrieved Bowman. "Yes, what is it, Fox?" asked an exhausted looking Bowman.

"Sorry to interrupt, Prime Minister, but I was wondering…do you have many remaining ancestors from Andross's bloodline?"

Bowman frowned. "Well, not many that I know of, many have changed their identities and gone into hiding to escape persecution they've gotten for being related to Andross, and to a lesser extent, Andrew," he half-smiled. "Most of them haven't been as lucky as I have been."

"It's just- no offense sir, but these weapons, they remind me a lot of Andross's old creations. Andross, Andorf…I just thought maybe…"

"With good reason," said Bowman. "The name Andorf doesn't sound familiar to me, but we can certainly research it."

"Thanks, Dash."

As Fox and Peppy finished their transmission, Scout went into the kitchen unit and reached into a cabinet, pulling out a bottle of Lylat's finest champagne. "I was hoping we'd be able to celebrate after our first mission," he explained. "Not that we can get too crazy tonight, but everybody, salud!" He grabbed an armful of random glasses from another cabinet and began working on the cork of the bottle.

Faye looked at the motley collection of glasses with disdain. "Oh come on Scout, at least use the right glasses!" She began rummaging through cabinets. "Falco, do we still have those nice glasses on board?"

"Yeah, somewhere," he replied offhandedly. Katt looked over and saw Falco studying Fox.

"Sooo…what's next on the list, hon?" she asked, handing him one of the glasses of champagne that Scout handed to her.

"I don't know, Trenchant would probably be a good bet, or Kale since they're going on primitive defenses," he took a long drink. "But, I have a feeling Fox is going to throw us a curveball and head us straight to Jericho."

"Krystal?" she asked.

"Yup," he looked over at Fox again, who was sitting in a chair downing his drink and looking rather morose while Miyu was going on about something.

Katt sighed. "You boys. Why don't you just go talk to him?"

"Talk to him?!" snorted Falco. "About what, how he's endangering the entire mission to chase after some woman?"

Katt shrugged. "Some people will do anything for love."

"Not me," said Falco. "And Fox shouldn't either. Not after what she did."

Fox, meanwhile, had reached the bottom of his glass. Maybe the answer would be at the bottom of a second one, he couldn't help thinking as Miyu blathered on in her usual way that he had become used to. He was in the process of holding his empty glass up to his left eye like a telescope when she said, "So what's this whole deal with you and this bounty hunter anyway? Is _that_ Krystal? Because she is not how I imagined her at all."

"I don't know, Miyu," he answered irritably.

She looked at him, her eyebrow arched. "Okay, fine. Don't give me the dirt. But why has Falco been shooting you curious looks all night long?"

He rolled his eyes. "I don't _know_, Miyu. Ask him."

"Why don't _you_ ask him? Look, so what if he became your competitor or whatever your beef with him is? You're working together now so let bygones be bygones," she said. "He seems to know more about this whole Krystal thing than I do anyway."

"Forget it Miyu. But nice try," he said, setting his empty glass down in the kitchen unit before heading into the males' dorm. He had a lot to think about before getting to sleep, mostly on how he could convince his team to go to Jericho as soon as possible, and to figure out where this mysterious Professor Andorf could be.

*

The Star Wolf team set a still unconscious and now tied up Kursed onto the landing deck and removed their masks.

"When will she wake up?" asked Jackal. "Should I set the gun for stun?" He eagerly reached for his blaster. Wolf pushed his hand away.

"Calm yourself, Jackal! Not now."

"She should last, but here, just in case…" Panther pulled out a small vial and waved it under her nose. "Looks peaceful, doesn't she?" he said fondly. Wolf rolled his eyes.

"Panther, if you get your feelings involved, so help me I'll claw your eyes out! Let Fox be the one who falls into that trap."

"Like taking candy from a baby, isn't it?" said Leon. "We could make things a little more interesting, cut her up a bit to really make Fox squirm so he knows we mean business."

"Don't be crude," said Panther. "Besides, she must be left unharmed."

"Yes, the _master _wouldn't like it if we bring him to her damaged," Wolf drawled the word master with contempt. "Put her in the storage compartment of my Wolfen for now. And then we wait."

"Suppose Fox never comes?" asked Jackal.

"Then we'll send out a distress signal. But I have a feeling it won't be necessary, especially if they already ran into each other. And let's not forget about that gift she has."

"Yes," said Leon slowly. "But what will happen if she's lost it- I taught her about cutting out all feelings when she wanted me to train her in the ways of an assassin. Then where will we be?"

"If she lost it, well, she's a fierce little thing, still valuable to have around. And either way, we'll just make sure to be well on our way to another galaxy before he finds out."

*

Dash Bowman thrashed fitfully in his bed. He was jolted awake, feeling as if his head was going to split in two. Yet another bad dream, but it was more like frightening visions- visions, he feared, of things that were actually happening across the galaxy. This time it was of a large, shaggy male cat, General Felini he presumed, being tortured by Pigma. This had been happening for a long time, since before Pigma had re-entered the picture, but lately they had become more intense and left him with intense headaches that plagued him for the rest of the night and day. Often he'd have no memory of the visions, and sometimes he'd black out from the pain. Now he was starting to force himself to remember. Clearly these headaches and nightmares weren't just due to stress like he'd originally hoped. He had a horrible feeling someone had a mental connection to his head, first showing him visions and was now attempting to get into his mind. There had been evidence of mind control devices in this conflict. If this Professor Andorf was a relation to him like Fox wondered, then…whether or not Pigma was capable of telepathy, he did not know, but vowed to send more Venomian forces into Beljar because there was now way he wanted to find out.

*

The Falcon was heading towards the primitive planet Kale from the planet Trenchant. Trenchant had been a rocky barren planet that held large mineral deposits and oil within its rocky exterior. It was not a domestically habitated planet but was used for mining and factories. Fox's team had been able to shut down Pigma's prime factories that would hopefully slow production of his weapons. Now they were on their way to help defend Kale, where primitive tribes were being terrorized by Pigma's technologically superior forces.

"Fox, what is that up ahead?" asked Slippy. Hawkeye was helping him fly the Falcon, as ROB had shut down again.

Fox studied the computer map. "I don't know, I don't see it on the grid."

Slippy brought the image up onto the computer and zoomed in. Up ahead was a small space port, they could see a ship fly in and get inspected by Pigma's men, then waved along once everything checked out.

"Shoot, it's a check point," said Falco. "I have a feeling it's not just to check for contraband fruit. There's no way they're going to let us through. They'll shoot us down first."

"Is there anyway you can turn back?" asked Fox.

"I'll try," said Slippy, flipping a few switches.

"Wait, it's too late," said Faye, looking at the monitor. "We've been spotted."

They could all see on the monitor as Pigma's men readied themselves with their arms and a few climb into small fighter ships.

"Ready your ships, gang," ordered Fox. "I have a feeling we're in for a fight before we can get to Kale."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

General Felix Felini was strapped to a cold metal board, sharp electrical prongs poking him uncomfortably. Granted, the discomfort was much worse when the prongs were actually sending powerful volts into him. He was beginning to wonder why Pigma didn't just kill him already.

"I'm going to ask you again Felini- where are the files?" Pigma readied his hand by a button.

"I told you- on the Brea Defense Base in the main computer!"

He let out a yowl of pain as an electrical jolt shot into his leg.

"He lies, Master Pigma! There no files on the Brea computer main. We've checked, reports are that the base has been infiltrated by the outside military scum. They must have taken them!" Captain Reptilian shouted. Felini never cared much for the slimy Captain Reptilian- he'd always had him pegged as a soldier who was too coward to become a traitor on his own, but would be a turncoat in an instant if somebody else led the way. It seemed that Reptilian was gunning to be Pigma's right hand man. Another shock jerked through his body.

"_Who_ has my files?!"

"Please- please, just don't hurt me anymore…" he gasped, sweat running down into his eyes and making them sting.

Captain Reptilian cackled. "Be a man, _Felix_! You were a general, after all!"

Pigma gave him another shock. "That's for wasting my precious time! It was fun at first, but now I mean business! WHO HAS MY FILES?!"

A jarring volt went up Felini's spine, even Felini couldn't believe that scream was coming from him. "I- I- I'm not sure, it is probably Star Wolf…Corneria sent them…" his head was rolling around, it was all he could do not to pass out.

"Wrong again, Felini! Star Wolf is on a mission for _me_! They know better than to betray me again!"

"Then I don't know! I really don't, just please…no…more!" Felini begged, losing consciousness.

"That will be enough, Pigma," came a raspy voice over the voice com. Pigma grunted.

"But Professor, he has stolen your plans and…"

"I know, and I know who has them now. They've fallen into the hands of the teams Star Fox and Star Falco."

"Whaaattt?" Pigma squealed, knocking over Captain Reptilian in his rage. "Those losers? I should have known Peppy couldn't do anything without relying on those tools!"

"Just another fly in the spider web, Pigma. Now what of the real prize? What is the status of Star Wolf?"

Pigma frowned. "They are waiting for Kursed to arrive."

"Hmm," Professor Andorf was also displeased. "It should not be taking this long."

"If Star Wolf fails, I promise I'll bring Kursed to you myself. That little chick can't hide from _me_!"

"Yes," Professor Andorf replied. "Once we have her, you'll see Piggy, our power will be complete enough to conquer any galaxy, especially Lylat."

Pigma grunted again. He wasn't sure he liked where this set up was going at all. Professor Andorf had promised him the leadership, glory, and revenge on Lylat, and of course plenty of money would come with that. Professor was to remain in the shadows, a ghost-writer to the chaos (that is, unless Pigma became strong enough to overpower him). But Pigma was starting to wonder if he could be trusted. He had seen Professor Andorf in the beginning- a fairly young simian who liked to play scientist and wear a sort of war paint that made him look like a menacing baboon. Lately however, Pigma was seeing less and less of him, transmissions were taking place over voice coms rather than in person or via the video transmitter. Was he trying to hide something from Pigma? Then there was the fact he was talking crazier everyday and was now making demands. Pigma had a feeling that Andross's blood did truly run through his veins as he'd claimed- and that the insanity and insatiable thirst for power couldn't be controlled, just like Andross.

Well, Pigma would just have to control it for him. He already had no intentions of letting Star Wolf get credit for capturing Kursed, he would kill them and deliver Kursed to Professor Andorf himself. For now he would stay cool, letting Professor Andorf build up everything for him, but the scientist would soon come to learn that the monster he built had no problem turning on its creator.

*

"Rogue ship, what is your ongoing destination?"

Hawkeye kept his cool. "Planet Kale for vacation, sir. Thought I'd take the whole family to experience a much simpler lifestyle and get some appreciation."

"Nice try, flyboy. Everyone knows the people of Kale don't take kindly to tourists."

"We're not from here, we're from the planet Raleigh in the Greensboro system."

"Greensboro system? Never heard of it! How come you're flying what looks to be a battle freighter ship?" In the background he could hear a second soldier yell, "Cut the small talk and FIRE!"

"That's our cue," Hawkeye said to the team. They flew their ships out of the docking bay. "Can you handle the Falcon alone, Slip?"

"You bet!" Slippy gave a thumbs up. ROB was sprawled on the ground next to the pilots' chairs, emitting a droning buzz. Hawkeye gave him a hard nudge with his foot and that shut him up. He hurried into his ship, a classic style Arwing that he as well as Miyu borrowed from the CDF. Fox had stubbornly insisted on using his own ship.

Soldiers were heading for them, their small and agile crafts trying to surround them and firing laser shots. Star Fox and Star Falco took them on.

"There's one!" Miyu cried excitedly as her target exploded.

"Hang tight honey, you got one trying to tail you," replied Katt. She locked on to the ship and fired.

"Nice shot, Katt!" exclaimed Scout.

"Since you guys got this under control, I'm going to check out the inside of the checkpoint," said Falco. He blasted a ship out of his way and jetted towards the check point's landing bay.

"Falco, don't be an idiot! You don't know what kind of defense they have in there!" said Fox.

"Hey, that's why you guys are here to back me up, right? I'll give you a holler if I need it."

Fox grumbled some choice expletives under his breath as he spun out of the way of some laser fire. Sure, they were doing all right with this fleet, but what if the enemycalled for back up?

"Surrender now! Master Pigma knows you're here!" cried an eager pilot. Faye came up from behind and blasted him.

"You five hold them off. I'm going to check on Falco!" Fox called to them.

"I don't need your help, Fox!" he snapped back. Fox had a feeling that wouldn't be the case though. He headed towards the check point. When he got in, Falco did seem to be holding his own.

"I told you, I got this Fox!" he said. "Go get the others so you can bring them through- what is _that_?!"

A large ship was approaching the exit of the check point, threatening to cut off their way out. "You do not have clearance, rogue fighters," said one of the soldiers on board.

"No kidding," said Falco.

"Here we go. Okay team, we're going to need some back up!" Fox called.

"We'll try to hurry, but we got our hands full out here!" Scout answered.

For half a second Fox debated turning around and helping the others before helping Falco, especially since Falco had gotten himself into this mess. Then he saw a powerful shot from the ship narrowly miss them and he knew what he had to do. The ship had reached the exit port, not leaving them much room to move to the outside and there wasn't a whole lot of room to maneuver around the port. They fired valiantly at it. Falco shouted, "Heads up, Fox!" and spun in front of a laser shot that was headed straight for Fox, deflecting it.

"Thanks," said Fox, still firing away. The ship let loose a large missile that was headed straight for Falco. Falco didn't notice because he was too intent on shooting.

"Falco, look out!" called Fox. Falco wouldn't have time to move out of its way. Fox cut in between them and fired. He was able to take out the missile before it hit Falco, but not before it clipped the side of his ship. He could feel his ship rock and rattle from the impact and wondered how bad the damage was.

"Hang tight boys, we're moving in!" Katt cried triumphantly. The increased number of their fire power was enough to take down the ship.

"Head out the entrance way!" Fox shouted. They turned their ships and blasted out of there as the explosion from the ship blew up the check point. Unfortunately for Fox, with his ship shield down and a slight delay in his rockets from the missile impact, his ship felt the heat a little bit more.

They landed in the Falcon's docking bay. "Dang Fox, are you alright?" asked Miyu, looking at his damaged ship as she climbed out of hers.

"I'm hanging in there."

"Maybe you better sit out on Kale and let Slippy fix your ship," Falco suggested. "That way, your ship is in good shape when we get to Jericho after that."

Fox looked over at Falco. They hadn't discussed Jericho yet. Was he giving him a hard time? He caught Falco's eye and Falco gave a brisk but sincere nod of the head. Fox knew that was Falco's way of thanking him for saving his tail. Fox nodded back.

*

Kursed slowly came to, and found herself in pitch darkness. In fact, it was dark and cramped. She struggled to move her arms and legs around, but in doing so she realized they were bound together. She kicked her feet on top of the ceiling (or whatever it was).

The light hurt her eyes as the top was lifted from wherever she was. Wolf stood overhead, grinning at her. "Good morning, starshine!" he said. "You're cranky when you wake up. Keep kicking like that, and I'll have Panther subdue you again."

She spit at him, but Wolf dodged out of the way. "Easy now, we're not going to hurt you, you're our precious cargo."

"What the hell is this, Wolf?" she growled. "What happened to our _deal_?"

"There's still a deal, and you're still part of it. Only, instead of turning us over to Pigma, we'll be turning you over to him. It's nothing personal, Kursed, it's just better business sense."

"But I wasn't going to turn you over to Pigma, you know that!"

Wolf shrugged. "Sorry…you know, maybe it is a little personal, now that I think about it. Hell hath no fury like a man scorned. First you break Panther's heart, then you have Leon waste his time training you, only to run off from the team and use your new skills to profit without us. So really who's to say you're not above more betrayal?"

"It's not like that," she said quietly. He snorted and slammed the lid shut on her.

"Too late for apologies!" he called.

She took a deep breath, and then realized she better not do that if she wanted to conserve her air. She shut her eyes. They had taken her weapons and communications, of course, but she wasn't defenseless. She kicked at the lid of the compartment with all her strength, but other than making some dents, it was useless. Wolf had locked it up tight. Beads of sweat ran down her face as the air grew thicker and hotter. She would not panic. No. She shut her eyes and as much as she tried to fight it, she gave into instinct. She visualized Fox McCloud, everything about him, and was flooded with emotions she had locked out for a long time. She focused on that and after the initial shock the emotion brought over her, she concentrated and hoped that even if he did not have any known telepathic abilities, their personal connection was still there, deep down somewhere.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Fox, what in the world have you done with this ship?!" exclaimed Slippy.

"Your ship wouldn't look so hot after getting hit by a missile either, Slip."

"Not that, but what's all this stuff you put into it?"

"Hawkeye and I customized our ships."

"Customize? It looks like some of this stuff should have stayed in the junkyard!" Slippy shook his head and waved a wrench at him. "I hope I figure out these parts in time!"

"It was quite a while ago," Fox admitted about the additions to his ship. "But I know I can count on you, Slip." Fox turned back to the screen to watch the action down on Kale. He was not used to this- staying behind while the others followed Falco's lead. He was itching to get in on the action. Kale was a rolling grassland, dotted with huts and mud buildings, where the natives lived and survived off of the land using primitive methods. While he trusted they were skilled warriors, he knew their odds against Pigma's army were not good by themselves.

"Man, it's just awful what they've done to the natives' land," Falco commented. "You know all the mecha-animals on Brea? It's ten-fold here."

"Take out as much as you can." Fox advised.

"I _know _that, Fox. You're not the only one who can lead a mission you know."

Fox watched as Kale warriors tried to assist them in their battle. He got a sudden sensation that something was wrong. Yet he strangely felt detached from the action going on below. Something else was wrong…was it Peppy? Was something happening on Corneria? A feeling of desperation washed over him. The room suddenly got very hot and seemed to close in on him. He thought of Jericho and had an overwhelming urge to get there. Perhaps he was going crazy, but it was almost as if he could hear a familiar voice calling for help in his head.

"Krystal," he gasped. As soon as he said it, he knew he was right. Krystal- or Kursed, as she was named now, was in danger and was calling Fox for help. That had to be it. Fox didn't even need to consider it. He leapt up from his seat.

"Slippy, I need you to finish what you're doing. Is my ship flyable?"

"Flyable?! Well, yes, but…"

"I'm heading for Jericho," Fox cut him off. "Kursed needs my help. I have to save her."

"Kursed? Fox, what are you doing?..."

Fox ignored Slippy's cries and climbed into his ship. "You're a pal, Slip, but don't worry about me." He spoke into the voice com. "Falco, you guys finish up here, I'm heading for Jericho."

"What?! No way! Jericho can wait. If your ship can fly, we could use you down here."

"Kursed sent out a call for help, for me personally. I have to save her. Head to Jericho after this."

"Whoa, Fox, Kursed needs help? You need help, buddy! She's probably set a trap for you!"

"It's a risk I'll have to take," Fox shut off his voice com and set his destination for Jericho.

*

"Fox don't be a fool! Okay? She's hurt you before, what if this time she like, actually hurts you? Fox? Fox!" Falco swore loudly and slammed his fist on the yoke of his ship. He must have shut off his voice com. He despised Kursed at that moment, messing with Fox's head and forcing Falco to be the sensible one. "Women," he grumbled.

Now what? The action was intense here. They couldn't really afford to have another team member take off. But they couldn't afford to have their co-captain flying off and getting himself killed either. Falco saw Fox's ship heading towards airspace.

"That ship will never hold together," he muttered. He doubted Slippy had been able to get much done on it, and Fox's ship had needed work even before the missile impact. He knew what he had to do. He switched the channel on his voice com. "Peppy, be prepared to send back up to Kale. I'm heading to Jericho."

"Falco, what is going on down there?"

"Fox has up and gone to rescue Kursed- that's Krystal now- on Jericho. I really don't have time to explain, but I have a feeling if Fox goes alone, he's not coming back."

"Falco! What-"

Falco clicked the voice com back to the other channel. "Katt, I need you to take the lead here. I'm following Fox. Don't worry, I told Peppy to send back up, rendezvous at Jericho, okay?"

"Falco, wait! We can't have both our leaders abandon mission now, look at this mess!"

"Aw Katt, I know you what it takes. You guys can hold together until the CDF back up gets here. And Slip, be prepared to cover them with the Falcon, she's got some good firepower in her."

"What?! Falco, I can't, you know I promised Amanda…"

Falco wasn't listening. He turned his ship and blasted out of the Kale atmosphere.

*

Fox flew into Jericho. He had no real idea of where he was going but he followed his instinct. It was almost as if something were pulling him in the right direction. Finally he came upon a homestead that had some very familiar looking ships on the landing bay. He could recognize Wolf O'Donnell's Wolfen any day. There was not much room for Fox's ship, but he landed anyway. Wolf was standing by his Wolfen, smoking a cigarette and looking rather pleased.

"Well, well, well, Fox McCloud. What brings you here?"

Fox withdrew his blaster. "Where is she?"

"Smart move, go ahead and shoot, then you'll never know where your precious Kursed is."

"She's ours now," said Panther, coming out from behind his ship.

"She was never _yours_!" Fox shouted.

"Keep telling yourself that," said Wolf.

"So help me Wolf, if you've hurt her…"

"Touching, Fox. But it'll be four against one, not much of a challenge," yawned Leon.

"And look at that ship!" cackled Jackal. "One blast and he's down!"

Wolf grinned. He dropped his cigarette, grinding it out with his boot. "Ah, Fox, it has been too long. Tell you what- if you want Kursed, come and get her!" He hopped into the Wolfen. The others followed suit. Fox shot at them but missed, and then climbed into his own, flipping the voice com back on.

"C'mon, don't fail me now," he said to his ship, dodging laser fire. He knew this would be an unfair fight, that they would try to come at him from all sides. He fired at them, striking Wolf's ship. For some reason, Wolf just laughed. Fox was suddenly overcome with another strange feeling- do not fire at Wolf's ship. He concentrated his aim at the others. He felt as if the cockpit of his ship was closing in around him again and he found it hard to breathe. An idea occurred to him…

"Hang on Fox, I'm here to help you!" a familiar voice called out.

"Falco, what are you-"

"Good God, I thought you were done with that annoying bird!" snapped Leon.

"Back at you, buddy," Falco shot at Leon's ship, then was aiming for a direct hit at the back of Wolf's ship.

"Falco, wait, don't shoot Wolf!"

It was too late, Falco scored a good hit on the back of the Wolfen.

"Dammit, Falco! I think Kursed is in Wolf's ship!" Fox cried.

"Good guess, Fox! Now the next game- where will be taking her now?" Without warning, Wolf and his team blasted away from Fox and Falco, disappearing into the thick layer of clouds.

*

"Slippy, what in blue blazes is going on over there?" Peppy shouted at the video transmitter.

"Don't ask me!" Slippy threw his hands up, then hastily set them back at the ship controls. "First Fox decided to head off to Jericho when his ship had no business leaving the docking bay, and then Falco took off after him!"

"What's on Jericho that's more important than finishing the task at hand?"

"Something about a distress call from Kursed, who is really Krystal…it's too confusing! And I promised Amanda I wouldn't fire a shot, but we're struggling to keep up down here!"

As if on cue, they heard Katt shout, "I'm hit!"

Peppy put his head in his hands in frustration. "Colonel Grey, send out a call for immediate back up to Kale!"

"Roger that!" Bill sent out the call.

"What are they thinking?" Peppy mumbled to himself. "Slippy, is there any way you can get ROB to man the laser controls at least?"

"He's indisposed, I haven't had time to work on him! But if I have to," he saw something and fired at it with the Falcon's lasers. "I guess I have to. Whew!"

"Thank you, Slippy!" cried Faye.

Lucy rose from her seat. "Where are you going?" asked Bill. "We have to get a plan together right now!"

"I have a plan. I'm going to ready my ship," she replied.

"But it's a dangerous mission, you can't go alone!"

She looked at Bill in disgust. "Do you know what I've gone up against, _Colonel Grey_?"

"Colonel Grey is right!" said Peppy.

She set her jaw determinedly. "Your friends are in trouble, Father, and they're my friends too you know. If you want to waste more time arguing about this, you'll be doing it on the comm. link." With that, she turned on her heel and headed out the door.

"Lucy, get back here NOW!" It was probably the first time Bill had heard Peppy really yell, especially at his daughter. Bill was already almost out the door. "I'll go after her," he said to Peppy. "If it's okay with you…they _do_ need us out there, and I'll make sure Lucy is safe. You still have Prime Minister Bowman to assist you…"

Peppy paused, and then nodded briskly. "Hurry Bill, before she takes off."

*

"C'mon Fox, let's take them down before we lose them!"

"Falco, wait! I- I can't . My ship won't make it. I have to go back to the landing bay. If you go now, you might be able to catch them."

"Hey, that's not cool, I followed you so you wouldn't gave to take them on alone! We already know Pigma is on Evola, let's wait till the others get here and you can get your ship fixed."

"I can't risk losing Krystal…Kursed, again. I can wait here for the others."

Fox heard Falco sigh. "You owe me big time, Fox," he snapped, blasting out of sight into the clouds.

"Thanks Falco," he replied, but of course Falco didn't answer. He looked over and saw Kursed's ship on the bay. Why didn't he think of that sooner? He climbed into her ship, but nothing happened when he flipped on the controls. Star Wolf must have done something to sabotage her ship in case she tried to escape. He flipped channels on his voice com to deliver the news about Star Wolf to Peppy.

*

Lucy and Bill had headed out into the fray, Fox and Falco were in danger of ruining the mission, and now Star Wolf was alive and fighting on the wrong side again, and somehow this all involved Fox's old love Krystal, who had become a bounty hunter named Kursed? Peppy looked down at the battle plans before him and it all seemed futile. But he was a general, and needed to compose himself as such, no matter what was thrown at him.

He heard an incoming signal from the video transmitter and sighed. He really couldn't imagine how much worse things could get. He looked and saw it was an urgent message from Dash Bowman. "I shouldn't have asked," he rolled his eyes helplessly up to the ceiling.

A distraught looking Bowman appeared on the screen. "Prime Minister, it is a good thing you've called upon me. I have some startling information," said Peppy.

"You go first, then," said Bowman.

"First and foremost, Fox and Falco have discovered Star Wolf is alive and well, but they have turned on us. They are believed to be delivering a woman to Pigma- a woman who incidentally has a history with Fox, Krystal, if you remember. Fox is now stranded on Jericho and Falco is attempting to trail Star Wolf now. Colonel Grey and Lucy have set out to fight as well to help the rest of the team."

Bowman rubbed his head fitfully.

"I don't mean to cause more headaches for you, sir. I'm having a hard time understanding it all myself, why Fox would endanger the mission…"

"They want him to follow," gasped Bowman. "They must have known Fox would go after her and have laid a trap for us."

"Falco is after them right now, not Fox."

"Then you must stop him and have him turn around!" Bowman ordered.

Peppy called desperately for Falco, but he did not answer. "Prime Minister, you said this was urgent, what is your message?"

Bowman wrung his hands anxiously. "This Professor Andorf…I think he is a relative of mine, of Andross. You know that that side of my family has a history of telekinetic abilities…I think this Professor has found a way to not only control inanimate objects, but has figured out how to use his telekinetics on a person's brain, and uses his telekinesis to manipulate the person's brain activity and actions. Krystal was supposed to have a telepathic ability, right? That is why they want her- he thinks he can use Krystal to tap into people's minds to know their inner thoughts and most importantly, their weaknesses."

Peppy frowned. "This is a remarkable theory, Bowman-"

Bowman held up his hand to stop him. "That is not the urgent matter in this message. You see…she is not the only one he wants. He wants revenge on Star Fox and Lylat of course, but he also wants me. He is trying to figure out how to get into my mind, perhaps control it to add to the Andross legacy. I must depart for Beljar immediately and put an end to this."

"Bowman, I need you here to guide your Venomian Defenses! Bill and Lucy have gone now too, I will be handling everything here and I certainly can't handle all theVenom forces on top of that without risking careless mistakes!"

"I have assigned people to the task already, do not worry. They will contact you later tonight. I have to go, General Hare, otherwise Lylat will be in great danger. You see, he's trying to drive me mad…and I fear should anything happen, it will be their blood on my hands. I have seen it…"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Bowman, wait! Think about this for a minute!" Peppy said desperately.

Bowman shook his head. "Good luck, General Hare." He saluted and signed off.

"Darn it, Dash!" Peppy shouted at the blank screen, even though it was no use. He angrily picked up his comm. link to get a hold of Fox. "Fox, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, General Hare."

"I don't understand what the heck has been going on, but now Colonel Grey, Lucy, and Bowman are all headed for Beljar, and you sent Falco into what's probably a trap! What were you thinking, Fox?"

"Kursed was in trouble…"

"Dang it Fox! That was no reason to go and endanger the mission! Now you've put the lives of everybody else on the line, including my daughter's! Kursed is an important link, but you shouldn't have just abandoned everyone at Kale! We could have set up a plan instead walking right into a trap."

"Look, I'm sorry, alright…" Fox started to say, but Peppy wasn't done.

"Your father would have never done anything so stupid or selfish! I defended you these past years that everyone was telling me you'd gone off the deep end and run your team into the ground, because I thought you were still capable of being a good leader. You had to prove me wrong, didn't you Fox?"

Fox didn't say anything for a minute, and just as Peppy was wondering if he shut off his comm. link on him, he said, "You're right Peppy. I'll make it up to you. To everyone. If I could turn around and go back to Kale or go after Falco, I would, but I have no ship."

Peppy sighed. "Back up should be to Kale by now, and Bill and Lucy are on their way as well."

"And Bowman?"

"He thinks he can find Professor Andorf, that is why he is heading to Beljar. He thinks you're right, Fox, that it's another descendent of Andross. I don't have time to get into it right now. We have to get a hold of Falco and stop him…"

*

Katt was struggling to keep her ship steady. It was suffering some damage, but no way could she retire to the Falcon. They were all struggling. It was getting harder to stay focused on telling the bad guys from the natives in ground combat, and to keep the natives from suffering any casualties. She dodged out of the way from a strange, bat-like bird that was shooting lasers from its mechanical beak. "Scout, can you back up the group by the lake?" she called, backing up a group of her own.

"I'm on it," he said wearily.

"It's never-ending," groaned Miyu, firing her laser relentlessly.

"Don't give up, I can see the CDF now!" Faye cried as a fleet of ships came into view.

"Argh! It's on me! I can't shake it off!" One of the flying mecha-creatures had hooked its talons on Hawkeye's wing and was pecking fiercely at his ship, damaging the exterior to get at its inner workings.

"I'm coming for you, hon!" Katt turned her ship to aim at the offensive bird, but it was blasted away by someone else's fire.

"I've got you covered, Katt!" She heard another female voice say, but it didn't sound like Faye or Miyu. She got a new flash of hope for the team.

"Lucy! Is that really you?"

"Yes, Bill and I are here to help you guys since Fox and Falco left."

"Thanks, darling! And remind me to kill those two if we survive this."

*

Kursed listened carefully and heard Wolf's footsteps approaching the storage compartment. When she thought his hand was on the latch, she kicked the top of the lid as hard as she could, flinging it open and knocking Wolf from the top of his ship. She hopped up, her legs were wobbly from being cramped up, but it never felt so good to stand and breathe in the cool air. She looked down at Wolf.

"You little b— " the last word of his sentence was muffled as he put his hands up to his muzzle to wipe his bloody nose. Panther and Jackal hopped up onto the Wolfen to grab her. She knocked Jackal away, but Panther was stronger and stood his ground. He wrapped his arms around her but she kicked and thrashed. She bit into his hand as hard as she could. He let out a yelp of pain and dropped her. She rolled out of the way and slowly stood up, then tried to back away with as much dignity as she could muster with her hands and legs still securely bound.

"You can't go very far like that," Leon pointed out. It was an unnecessary comment, thought Kursed, but she couldn't exactly argue with him. Not yet, that is. She glared at Jackal.

"Hey new guy, you're going to have to be tougher than that if you want to survive," she said coldly. He growled and lunged at her, but Wolf held him back.

"Jackal! Trust me, I want to rip her to shreds right now as much as you do, but if we want our reward, she has to be in tact!"

Kursed casually looked around to try and figure out where she was, and to see if there was anything lying around that she could use as a weapon or to cut her ties at least. All she could tell was that she appeared to be in an ordinary hangar bay. Not much help at all. She looked back at them. "So, Star Wolf, it's all about the money again is it?"

"Who do you think you're kidding Kursed? It's always been about the money. Pigma offers far more than that old fool Peppy Hare ever did."

"But you'll just be the public enemy again, you know. You're traitors, they'll be sure to put a huge bounty on all of your heads," she bared her teeth, "and I'll be sure to the one who gets it."

Wolf smirked, blood from his nose still smeared into his fur. "I don't think so, Cookie. We were tired of being Corneria's go-to guys anyway. Besides, if Pigma has his way, Lylat will be in his control soon."

"No!" Kursed shouted, swinging her bound fists at Wolf. She made a direct hit to his bionic eye.

"Stupid move!" hissed Leon, pouncing her. He pulled out his blaster and pointed it at her face. She swung again, knocking it out his hand. The blaster went off as it bounced along the ground, narrowly missing Jackal.

"That's it!" Jackal shouted, diving at her and pinning her arms over her head, painfully twisting them. She yelled and bucked her knees, striking Leon right where it hurt.

"You can't hurt me, remember? 'I'm supposed to be undamaged'!" she said mockingly.

"I don't care anymore. I think I'll just get more pleasure if I just kill you now," Leon croaked. Panther came and stood over her, his blaster drawn. "That's enough out of you," he said. "This is set for stun, but how about you make it easier on yourself and stop putting up a fight?"

"Over my dead body!"

At the word "body", Panther instinctively looked her up and down. "You are still beautiful, as always," he couldn't help saying.

"Oh godda—knock it off, Panther!" snarled Wolf, his hand still over his eye. He stumbled over to Kursed, a small vial in his hand. He shoved it under her nose before she could react. She was out cold in a matter of seconds. Wolf looked at his team mates- one whose hand was bleeding, one was limping, one was still doubled over on the ground, and he himself had damage to his eye, everything looked scrambled out of it. He had to admit, he was surprised at her skill. It was a damn shame she hadn't stayed with Star Wolf. "Alright boys, pull it together!" he snapped. "Let's get a move on."

Panther nudged Kursed gently with his boot. "She put up a good fight, didn't she?"

"I told you to cut the crap, Panther. She's not worth your feelings. Let's get her to the holding cell while she sleeps it off."

*

Fox had spent what felt like hours trying to contact Falco and trying to figure out what the heck Star Wolf had done to Kursed's ship. If he could just get it working again…

"Fox! We did it! We're coming for you now!" Katt called over the comm. link. He was flooded with relief, but he also felt guilty. They had really suffered during that mission because of him, and might have lost one of their leaders because of him.

With a purr, the engine of Kursed's ship came to life. At least one thing was starting to go right for him. He was doing a systems check as the Falcon and two other ships flew in. He squinted and recognized the other two ships as Bill's and Lucy's.

"Slip, pull the Falcon up to the landing deck. I'm going to load my ship, and then Kursed's ship. I can use hers while mine is being fixed."

"Um…and she doesn't mind?" Miyu asked. Somehow Kursed had not given Miyu the impression that she would be so generous with her ship.

"Star Wolf has her. Let me load my ships and I'll explain everything."

"Aren't you glad we took the Falcon instead of the Great Fox? It can hold all of our ships," Miyu said, Fox's words taking a moment to sink in. "Wait a minute, Star Wolf?"

"Yes, I told you, I'll explain everything in a minute. Bill, Lucy, you better load your ships too. You'll want to hear this. And…thank you for coming after us," he added.

There was a pause. "No problem, Fox," Bill finally said.

Fox climbed out of the ship and looked down at all his team mates. They all were there except for Falco, worn out looking but okay, no thanks to him.

"First of all, I want to say I'm sorry for not being the leader I should have been," Fox's eyes met Lucy's and she gave him a small smile, encouraging him. "Not only today, but for a long time now. Star Fox was once a real success, and I know General Hare would have given anything to have us work for him instead of Wolf and the rest of those two-faced losers. I want to prove that Star Fox can be that team again- it already has two great members who could do so much better than me," he gestured to Miyu and Hawkeye, then turned to the members of Star Falco. "Sometimes I think you guys would be better off if you joined Star Falco."

"No way. We are a team, Fox, _all_ of us," Miyu said. Hawkeye nodded. "But it is about time you got it together," she added with a grin.

"At least Star Fox still has a leader. What happened to Falco?" Katt asked.

Fox shifted uncomfortably. "About that…look, Star Wolf and Pigma set us up. They faked their own death and went after Kursed, and knew I'd follow them into a trap."

"Kursed?" Katt furrowed her brow. "What do they want with her?"

"I'm not sure, I think Peppy knows. I couldn't follow them in my ship, so Falco went after them, and now I can't make contact with him."

The team was silent. "I'm sure Falco will be just fine," Katt said stiffly. Fox put his hand on her shoulder.

"Katt, you did a great job out there on Kale. Falco will be proud." He looked back at the others. "I know Kale was a rough time, but we can't afford to rest right now. We find Falco, we find Bowman…"

"Dash? What do you mean, 'find Bowman'?" Katt looked up in alarm. Fox had forgotten about Star Falco's closeness with Bowman- he'd actually been a founding member of Star Falco and had flown with them for a year before deciding to focus on his campaign to restore Venom, and had worked with them on several occasions since.

"Peppy says that Bowman thinks Professor Andorf is after him because he's another relative of Andross."

Scout rubbed his head. "Things are getting really crazy."

"So, Professor Andorf is definitely in on Pigma's plan then," Faye said thoughtfully. "Is Prime Minister Bowman sure he is in Beljar with Pigma?"

Fox shrugged. "You're guess is as good as mine, Faye. He's probably on Evola too." He clapped his hands together authoritatively. "Alright team, let's get ready to find Falco…"

"Guys, I'm heading towards the landing bay!" Falco called out from the voice com.

"Falco! You're okay! What happened?"

"You guys won't believe it, I was tracking those idiots to Evola, when I lost sight of them. Either they took some sort of top secret back entrance into there or they blew past the planet all together."

"You don't think they're letting Kursed escape, do you? Panther did care for her, after all," Slippy asked.

Fox narrowed his eyes. "Star Wolf only cares about themselves, Panther included. They wouldn't go so far if they were going to let her get away."

"So anyway," Falco said impatiently. "I was circling Evola when that giant Phoenix thing started to come at me. It looks as fierce as the diagrams made it out to be. I outflew it, of course."

"Glad you made it out of there cocky as ever," Fox grumbled. "Falco, pull in your ship and we'll rest for a bit before heading to Evola. We'll run scans on the planet to try and pin down the location of the secret entrance. Slippy, maybe you can get ROB up and running to work on the ships?"

"I'll help," said Hawkeye.

"I'll start on the ships right now," added Lucy.

"You guys are the best," said Slippy.

"Sounds like a plan. I'm pulling in now," said Falco. "We better make sure we're ready, because I was spotted, and I'm pretty sure they're on to us and won't make getting into Evola that easy this time."

*

"Master Pigma!" Captain Reptilian burst through the door of Pigma's private chamber. Pigma had been dozing off on his large, ridiculously throne-like chair, and jumped awake with a loud snort.

"This better be good, Reptilian," he grumbled. "Is Star Wolf here with Kursed yet? I'm getting impatient!"

Captain Reptilian cleared his throat. "Star Wolf was spotted, sir, but they didn't come to Evola. They went right past us, but we couldn't trace their exact destination. They've disappeared somewhere between our system and Lylat."

Pigma's breathing was a raspy hum as he tried to control his anger. "You morons!" he finally exploded. "How could you let them get away with my valuable prize?"

"We tried tracking them, but they must have used some sort of cloaking device. And listen to this- we also spotted a rogue ship tailing them, from the Star Fox and Star Falco teams."

"Did you get them at least?'

Reptilian swallowed a lump in his throat. "No sir. We deployed the Phoenix, but he- or she- was able to get away."

Pigma knocked Reptilian to the ground. "They'll be back! I want all my fleets at the ready, got it, you slimy pile of Dodora dung?! The only reason I won't kill you now is because I have other business to deal with! So what are you waiting for- go, NOW!" Captain Reptilian saluted and scrambled out the door. Pigma grabbed his comm. link with his oily mechanical hand.

"Come in, Professor!"

"What is it now, Pigma?"

"I told you not trust Star Wolf, those lousy wannabe do-gooders! They've escaped with Kursed!"

"They haven't escaped, they have brought her to me. You make sure to take care of Fox and his friends."

"What do you mean?! Where are you?! The deal was Star Wolf would deliver her here to me and you! Star Wolf doesn't deserve to live! I don't know what you're up to Andorf, but NOBODY double-crosses Pigma Dengar and gets away with it. Not even you!"

"You know all about double-crossed deals, don't you? Trusting someone is always a gamble. The difference is, I hold my cards close to my chest while you throw yours all over the table. I'm on to you, Piggy." Pigma did not hear Professor Andorf click off his comm. link, as he was too busy squealing and grunting in an unintelligible rage.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Falco climbed out of his ship and swaggered towards the team. "Man, some day, huh?" he said. "I can't wait to see the stupid look on Pigma's face when we get to Evola." He unzipped his flight jacket and flung it over his shoulder, finally taking some notice of the new faces aboard the ship. "Bill? Lucy? Wow, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to help," Lucy said simply. Falco looked over at Katt and grinned. "So Katt, how was it without me? Did you miss me?"

Katt had looked so relieved that she might cry since Falco had returned. She slowly walked towards him and reached out her hand to his face. Fox thought for sure that she was going to kiss him, but then…

SMACK!

She slapped him across the face, and then began pummeling him with her fists. "Don't you ever abandon the team like that again, got it?! We could have died out there because of you! You could have died out there, and you act like it's no big deal, you big stupid…hothead! Why don't you take your ego and stuff it, and use your brain for once! You make me so- I could just- UGH!" she shoved him, and then stomped off to the females' dorm.

Falco looked stricken, then coolly ran his hands through the feathers on his head. "What's with her?" he scoffed.

Miyu shrugged. "You're an idiot?" she suggested. The others shook their heads and went back to what they were doing. Falco looked over at Fox and Slippy. "What?" he asked.

They exchanged a look. Fox snickered and threw his hands up in the air. "If you don't know, I'm not gonna be the one to tell you, Falco."

"Whatever," he muttered, tossing his jacket on a seat. He went over to the music pod and clicked it on. He turned the song that was on up and smirked, then walked towards the females' dorm and shouted, "Hey Katt, that song you love is on!" Katt did not respond. Fox imagined the only response Falco would get from her right now would be some kind of rude gesture.

Faye was busying herself in the kitchen unit, working on what would probably end up as a delicious meal. "Faye, don't worry about that, go rest!" said Fox. "If you're hungry, I can make you something."

Slippy laughed. "You do _not_ want that, Faye! Have you heard about Fox's cooking?"

"We have pre-made packets of soup," Fox said indignantly. "You just worry about fixing ROB."

"We'll need our strength for Evola. Besides, this will help me relax, and I'm starved! I'm sure you all are," she said. "And I've heard Falco's horror stories. You almost set the Great Fox on fire trying to make spaghetti?"

"He's exaggerating!"

Slippy mouthed "no" and shook his head. Even Fox couldn't help laughing. He looked around at his team mates. Somehow, the tension had seemed to fade between them all as they prepared for the greater cause. No one was resting. Lucy and Hawkeye were working on the ships, Slippy was working on ROB as well as assisting with the ships. Falco was bringing up information on Evola while Scout and Miyu were studying diagrams of the Phoenix. Bill was on a video transmission with Peppy. Even Katt had cooled off and came back out, helping wherever she was needed.

Fox smiled proudly at his team, his friends. Even Falco- it was unspoken but known that they'd recovered their friendship. He couldn't think of a group of friends he'd rather be fighting this battle with. He went over to where Bill was standing to help fill in Peppy on their next plan of attack.

*

Dash Bowman was trying to stay focused on his ship's flight path, but the pressure building up in his head was too intense. He instinctively shut his eyes.

No! No! I will not let you in! he yelled silently, trying to force the evil out of his head, fighting off images of a humongous fiery bird, a flotilla of war ships, of Fox's old love passed out in a detention cell, and of Professor Andorf himself, a wiry and dark eyed baboon, standing by the base of an enormous polygonal orb, and of secret plans. The only good thing about these visions were he was given a vision of where to find him, of important information. He tried to connect with General Hare and his own army, but there was no response, all his communications were dead.

"You will not have me!" Bowman screamed. "You will not have Lylat. This legacy ends now! I AM NOT LIKE YOU OR ANDROSS!"

He repeated this over and over in his head, fighting off whatever forces Professor Andorf used to tap into his brain. He would show them, good could triumph over evil. He had fought too long and too hard to overcome the shadow cast by his ancestry, to rebuild the planet his own grandfather had turned into a wasteland, to surrender to evil that easily. He was Dash Bowman, bringer of peace, but would fight to the death to keep the evil from taking over him.

*

Star Fox and Star Falco headed into the fray, followed by the Falcon with the CDF behind.

"Get ready, I see the armada now," said Fox.

"Gee, a fleet of enemy battleships. What a surprise," Falco said sarcastically.

"Exactly. Okay team, split up. I want to take out as many of the small fighters as you can before going for the large ships. You got us covered up there, Colonel Grey and Slippy?"

"You know it!" Bill was helping man the Falcon, as it was easier to direct the CDF from there, but was prepared to jump onto the battle at a moment's notice.

"Okay, here-we-GO!" said Fox, boosting towards the action. He was flying in Kursed's ship. He'd been a little uncertain about using an unfamiliar ship in such a large battle, but he'd adjusted to it as easily as a new pair of boots. As expected, they were greeted with small enemy fighters upon approaching the armada.

"Let's take 'em out!" said Scout. The team split off, fending off the ships that buzzed around them like an annoying swarm of flies.

"I'd like to personally welcome you, Star Fox and Star Falco," an unfamiliar voice, not unlike nails on a metal surface, came over the voice com. Fox held his breath. Perhaps it was the elusive Professor Andorf…

"I am Captain Reptilian, personal assistant to Master Pigma Dengar!"

Or not. Fox rolled his eyes at the mindless tool.

"Surrender now, or prepare to die!" Reptilian screeched.

"Funny, we were about to tell you the same thing," Falco snapped.

The larger battleships went into motion, moving much more slowly than the small fighters, but with a much stronger firepower. "Slippy, try to find the location of Captain Reptilian's ship," said Fox. It could be any one of the large battleships or freighters, but if they could take out the Captain's ship the others might retreat, or at least it might make tearing through the blockade that much easier.

"I'll run the scans now!"

"The small fighters are being deployed from the freighters, if we take those down first it'll be easier to fight them off," suggested Lucy.

"Miyu and Scout, you two stay on the smaller ships," ordered Fox, since they were the sharpest shots of the team. "Faye, Katt, Hawkeye- you keep on those battleships. Falco, Lucy, and I will check out those freighters."

"Who's going to check out that missile?" Slippy cried out. "Incoming!"

One of the ships had deployed a large missile. Lucy turned her ship and headed towards it, firing away.

"Ahh! It's casing is too strong!" she cried, looping around it. "I don't know if I have the firepower to take it out in time!"

"Allow me!" said Bill, firing the lasers of the Falcon. "Steer clear, Lucy!"

A few blasts from the Falcon and the missile was gone.

"Bill! There's another one heading for behind the Falcon!" cried Katt. She and Lucy blasted towards the second missile.

"Wait! Be careful, you might not have enough firepower!" shouted Fox.

"Give us a second we can turn this thing around!" assured Slippy. Lucy and Katt shot away at the missile as the Falcon attempted to veer out of its way. What if the girls couldn't get it in time? Fox headed towards them. Suddenly, he saw what looked like a third set of lasers firing at the missile. He wondered who it was, he thought the last he'd seen, everyone else was occupied. The missile blew up, and once the blast cleared, Fox could make out the shape of the ship…Wolf O'Donnell's Wolfen?

What was Star Wolf up to now? Why did they just help them?

"Hey, what are you doing, flying my ship?" a woman's voice said indignantly. "Fox, is that you?"

"Kursed? Yes, it's me…are you alright? Is Star Wolf with you?"

"I'm fine. I have a lot to tell you all, I know where the real enemy is, and I have the weapons plans you should have gotten in Brea. You see to it you keep my ship in tact, alright? Wolf should be so lucky I don't let his Wolfen accidentally on purpose get destroyed out here."

*

Star Wolf entered the detention unit. No doubt Kursed would be conscious by now, and soon it would be time to hand her over to the Professor. They went over to holding cell SFX64, where Kursed sat with a downright ugly glare on her face. They stood over her, grinning at her imprisonment. Panther unlocked the door and it slid open. "No false moves," warned Leon.

"He'll only kill you, you know," she said through gritted teeth. "Pigma always wanted you dead, and now that he has what he wants, he's going to kill you before you can even get a glance at your precious reward."

Wolf dismissed this news with a wave of his hand. "Do you really think we're stupid enough to trust Pigma? We know Pigma is no mastermind, he's somebody's pawn. He's ruthless, sure, and downright devious, but intelligent enough for something like this? No. And we've known Pigma longer than you to know he would not pass up any opportunity to keep a reward for himself. That's why we delivered you straight to the source."

She stood up. "What are you talking about? You said you were turning me over to Pigma."

"Lying is part of the trade. You'll find out soon enough, when we hand you over to him. Meanwhile, your old friends are wasting their time going after the wrong enemy."

Kursed shut her eyes. "I will help them," she said. "I can do it from this cell, you know. In the meantime, they took the plans on Brea that you were after. They have some of the answers on their side."

"Do they now?" Wolf grinned, pulling a small disk key out from his vest. It was looped around his neck on a small chain.

"What are those?" she asked.

"The real technical readouts. The ones that Fox and his team think they got are missing one vital piece of information." He dangled it in front of her face before jerking it back up out of her reach.

Kursed's eyes became slits. She leapt forward without warning and tackled Wolf, clawing at his throat. Leon, Panther, and Jackal tried to pull her off, but she was able to knock them away in her fury. She had grabbed one of their blasters from their holster, and pressing it between Wolf's eyes, she ripped the chain from his neck and grabbed Wolf's blaster as well, flipping both settings to ion blast. They were coming at her, she wished she had time to kill all of them, but instead crossed her arms and fired the blasters at the walls. The ion beams ricocheted off of them, bouncing dangerously down the corridor. They dove to the ground to dodge them. This gave Kursed the time to take off out of the unit.

Star Wolf took off after her shortly after, but that slight delay had given Kursed just enough of a head start. They came to the hangar bay just in time to see the Wolfen taking off.

"_My_ ship?! She took _my_ ship!" Wolf shouted angrily.

Panther shrugged. "But she took the bait."

"But why didn't she take _your _ship? She used to fly it all the time! And it has a freakin' flower on it, for Pete's sake!"

"You're sure she'll be back?" asked Jackal, still not pleased with letting a captor get away even though that was how it was planned.

"Of course she will. Now that she and her friends will know about the true danger, they'll jump right into playing hero of the day," said Leon. "It's like we're giving Andorf everything he wants on a silver platter."

Wolf was still staring at the port. "So help me, if she gets ONE scratch on my Wolfen…"

*

Bowman did not see the Wolfen blast by him as he approached the frozen tundra moon of Bludo. He was too distracted by the head-splitting pain that intensified the closer he got to the moon. By the time he'd located base, his vision was nothing more than a blur of fuzzy dots, and his head felt as if it was going to implode on itself. He didn't even know how he was able to pull into the docking bay. He hadn't even climbed all the way down from his ship when he completely blacked out, falling and landing dully on the floor of the hangar bay.

*

The battle was intense, but going well given the circumstances.

"Fox, I got the location of Captain Reptilian's ship. I'm sending you the information now," said Slippy.

Fox watched as the coordinates came up on the computer read out screen. "Falco, let's go!" he said, heading towards the ship. To his surprise, the remaining ships had ceased fire and were slowly moving away. Not turning away, necessarily. Fox doubted Captain Reptilian would retreat now.

"Everybody, watch out! I have a feeling they're deploying that Phoenix!" called Falco. "I hope you all looked at those readouts carefully, because this is supposed to be one tough- "


	13. Chapter 13

`Chapter Thirteen

"Where is it, Falco?" asked Fox, searching for the Intergalactic Phoenix. He looked at his radar. Something was coming up from behind.

"Bill! Your men! Warn them…" Kursed's cry was cut out by a call from the CDF. "What is that? We're hit!" The transmission was cut off by a burst of static. Fox turned his ship and sped toward the blast. An enormous hybrid of bird of prey and machine flew through the fire as if it was nothing, breathing fire of its own.

Fox fired at the Phoenix. His lasers didn't even seem to phase it. He narrowly dodged a stream of white hot fire.

"Hang on buddy, we're coming!" said Falco. "He'll have to get through us before he takes another one of Corneria's or Venom's men!"

"That might not be so hard- our firepower isn't making a scratch!" said Scout.

"I'm going to try a bomb," said Katt. She flew up close to the bird and dropped a bomb onto it. The Phoenix let out a piercing screech and rammed itself into her ship, sending her spinning into an enemy fighter.

"Katt! Are you alright?" shouted Falco.

"I-I don't know." Katt sounded extremely rattled.

"Get back to the Falcon, stat! Next time, don't do something so stupid!" he snapped.

"Wait Falco, I think she's onto something," said Bill. "From the Falcon, it looked like that might have done some damage."

"It's hard to tell, its armor regenerates quickly," said Kursed. "You, Badger, watch out!"

Scout looped around a fiery blast. "I'm going to use a bomb," he said. "Watch carefully from up there and see if it does anything." He zoomed underneath the Phoenix and looped around, dropping a bomb on it and speeding away. The Phoenix let out another screech and charged ahead, spraying fire from its beak. This time though, it missed the Venomian ship it was charging towards and smashed into one of the enemy battleships.

"That definitely does something to it," reported Slippy. "But I don't think bombs are fast enough to keep it from recharging."

An idea came to Fox. "Kursed, does your ship carry bombs?"

"Of course, just hit the red release switch on the left hand controls- wait a minute Fox, what are you doing?"

"I have an idea."

"I gathered _that_. What's your idea?"

"I need you guys to back me. I got to get up close to this thing," he dove his ship downward and swooped it back up quickly, capturing the attention of the Phoenix as he planned. "Fox, be careful!" Kursed shouted. When Fox estimated that the Phoenix would be opening its mouth to release fire, Fox quickly deployed two bombs, confident that his idea worked.

The bombs flew into the bird's gaping jaws and down its throat. Fox backed off to be out of range of its fiery breath, if this backfired.

The Phoenix stopped moving, and then suddenly exploded, the loud boom drowning out its deafening shriek. Its armor shattered in several directions, shrapnel flying.

"Everybody blast it, before it can repair itself!" he shouted over the noise. They fired their ship lasers and bombs at it, trying to scatter the debris in as many directions as possible.

"Fox, look, the ships are retreating! Including the captain's ship!" called Hawkeye. Captain Reptilian had taken this opportunity to start retreating his ships.

"Quick, let's go after him!" said Falco, speeding away. Fox followed.

"Captain Reptilian, we will give you a choice- either turn yourself over now and we will hold you under arrest until your army puts you on trial for treason, or we will be forced to take you down," Bill said.

"You'll get neither from me! Master Pigma, I'll need your back up in the orbital."

Fox and Falco took out the gun turrets on Reptilian's ship and then dipped beneath it, near a loading port. "Reptilian, this is your last chance," said Fox. "Either go with Colonel Grey and be given even a small chance of release, or we will deploy bombs into your ship now."

"Master Pigma, do you come in? Our ships are retreating and they've taken out my firepower. I have little choice unless you help me get rid of these fleas!"

"What'll it be, Reptilian?" Falco said, his patience gone.

"I am loyal to my master! Men, enough talk, take out this scum. Fire!"

Wordlessly, Fox and Falco aimed and tossed a set of bombs up into the loading port of the ship, and then boosted out of the way. The last thing they heard from him over the voice com was, "They really have bombs! No! Wait, I've changed my mi-" before the explosion took over the ship.

"Some personal assistant. He's got about as much loyalty as Pigma. They were perfect for each other," said Miyu.

Fox laughed over the voice com. "That's one of the great things about you Miyu, blunt but truthful," he said.

"We don't have much time," Kursed said curtly, interrupting them.

"Right! Slippy, Colonel Grey, see if you can find a remote point for us to do any last minute repairs. Katt's ship is pretty bad. We'll need everybody in top shape," said Falco.

"Remote? That'll be pretty tough, this is a highly populated metropolitan planet," Slippy pointed out.

"Also, try to pinpoint exactly where Pigma is located," added Fox. "Before we try to find this secret moon base, we should still try to recover General Felini and find out more about those secret plans."

*

"Master Pigma, they've destroyed the Phoenix!" Captain Reptilian's panicked voice came over Pigma's comm. link.

"What do you mean, they've destroyed my Phoenix? It's supposed to be nearly impossible!"

"They found a way!"

"That's the best answer you can give me- 'they found a way'? I should let them destroy you!" Pigma shouted, slamming the comm. link down. He had nothing more to say to Captain Reptilian, but didn't click off the comm. link. He wanted to hear the useless twit get the reward of his failure. Pigma listened to Reptilian's cries for help, and then the burst of static that signified an explosion.

"That's what that idiot gets! Letting himself get taken out by Star Fox and Star Falco," he mumbled. But he had overheard some of the battle conversations in his transmissions with Reptilian. Kursed for whatever reason had joined up with them, in Wolf's ship if he wasn't mistaken. Now, that was rich! The best part was, he knew they'd be well on their way to Pigma. People always called Pigma greedy because of his fondness for money, but Star Fox was greedy for heroism. He notified his men to keep an eye out for the Star Fox teams, and to NOT attack them if spotted. If Kursed had broken free from Star Wolf, then chances were she'd been at Professor Andorf's secret location. He'd just kill off Fox and his pals when they came for him, and force Kursed to take him to Andorf. Pigma laughed and shook his head. While Professor Andorf making Pigma a living weapon worked out well for Pigma himself, the so-called genius Andorf would realize what a stupid move that was.

*

"You guys are doing great, and you must thank Kursed for the valuable information she's provided us, and for risking her life to bring us this information!" said Peppy excitedly from the video transmission.

"Have you been able to contact Dash yet and tell him about Andorf's base?" asked Falco.

Peppy frowned. "No, I have not gotten any response from him."

He forced a smile in Bill's direction. "And Colonel Grey, you did a phenomenal job out there in the field. Why, I could see you being general some day!" Peppy winked.

"General Hare, I wish I could agree, but I lost a ship out there…so many men lost. I feel like I should have prevented that," said Bill.

Peppy became serious. "Yes, rest their noble souls. I don't mean this in a heartless way, but Colonel Grey, even the greatest generals can't prevent every casualty. You are not to blame."

Fox decided to give Peppy and Bill a moment alone. By now, Peppy had been filled in on everything with Kursed. Peppy had also agreed that it was necessary to rescue General Felini from Pigma, as they were having trouble unscrambling this code key. Besides, Fox had a feeling that Peppy really just wanted to see Pigma get taken down.

Fox looked over at Lucy, who was watching Bill closely and looking very concerned. She blushed and looked away when she realized Fox caught her. Could it be…he had seen the way Bill had looked her too. He smiled to himself. Love was in the air, he thought, glancing over at Kursed. Well, with some people anyway.

Since boarding the Falcon, Kursed had been standing around rather awkwardly. No one was quite sure what to say to her, besides thanking her for her help. She came over to him, looking uncertain. Fox studied her. She wasn't the unrecognizable bounty hunter with cold, mask-like exterior he had seen previously, but she wasn't the same Krystal he'd known and loved either, exactly.

"You were good out there, Fox," she said finally.

The confusion and anger that had built up over the years suddenly exploded. "Kursed, what the hell is this? You can't just try to screw us over and then waltz back around like you're our ally without some kind of explanation."

Miyu and Faye had been nearby and discreetly moved away when the heard Fox's outburst. Kursed sighed. "I was in Brea on business. I didn't know Star Wolf had turned over or that you would be there…"

"You know I don't just mean recently, Kursed. Everything. You betrayed us, then you run out on Star Wolf and become a bounty hunter. A _killer_."

"I'm not a murderer! What I do is no different than you- they've done something to deserve it. It would take a long time to explain everything, Fox," she said. "So here's the quick version- you hurt me…"

"I just didn't want you to get hurt. If anything happened to you…"

"Shh, Fox, I know, just listen to me! You know how hard it is to think clearly with a broken heart…and I liked to think I was helping Star Wolf by being with them, and they ended up helping me, in their own backwards way. Sometimes, things happen that make a person want to change, and they helped me make it. But I couldn't take what I'd become in everyone's eyes, maybe because they were right- it was a horrible thing to betray you, and I didn't want to face the truth about myself. So I ran away from myself, so to speak, and created a new life and identity to get away from it."

Fox didn't say anything for a long time, he didn't know what to say. It's not like what she just said made everything suddenly okay. "So why did you come back for us now?"

She looked down at her palms. "You still came back for me on Jericho. Why did _you_ come back, Fox?"

Again, Fox wasn't sure how to respond. Finally, in a low voice he said, "I used to dream about you, you know."

"Really? Good dreams, or bad dreams?" She inched closer to him, so they were almost touching.

"Confusing," he said, instinctively leaning closer…

"Fox! I think I found Pigma, he and General Felini are located in the city of Polis!" Slippy came running over excitedly, waving the coordinates. He noticed the closeness between Fox and Kursed. "Oh…oh my, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"What? Oh- it's nothing!" they both said jumping away as they realized their closeness. "We were just talking," Fox said defensively. Slippy smiled and shook his head, walking away. That nothing looked like it had been about to be _something_.

*

One of the last things Dash Bowman could remember was falling into utter blackness, first plummeting through a nightmarish clash of visions and feeling as if his insides were being ripped apart as he saw his friends and allies dying. He tried to scream as if that would release the demon, but nothing came out. He heard the voice of Professor Andorf over him. "It's in your blood, you can't fight it. You can't fight me. You are mine!" He gave a raspy, insane giggle. Bowman surrendered, the pain inside of his head had flooded his body had made him too weak to fight anymore. The darkness had won, it had taken over. All was lost…


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Evola was a bustling planet of indeterminate terrain, as most of its surface consisted of sprawling cityscapes. Perhaps it had once been a more appealing place to live before Pigma's arrival, but now its cities were wastelands of pollution, decrepit buildings and monorail lines, and vandalism. Pigma's men and mind-controlled Beljar soldiers patrolled the streets, arresting and terrorizing cititzens. Star Fox and Star Falco's ships weaved through the skyscrapers and crumbling structures of the city Polis.

"Scans indicate he should be in the Polis capitol building," said Fox.

"I expected a little more security than this," said Falco. No one had even attempted to stop them upon their arrival.

"He must know we're coming, and wants us to come to him. I guess we're worth something to him," said Kursed. They had to agree when they not only landed their ships at the capitol building with no issue, but also entered the building with minimum difficulty. Fox turned to Kursed. "Kursed, is there any way you can sense if General Felini is with Pigma?"

"I don't know, I'll try," she shut her eyes and concentrated. "I don't think so," she said after a moment. "If he is somewhere nearby, I imagine he is probably being held in a prisoner ward somewhere."

"Hang on a second, follow me," said Faye. They followed her to an abandoned office. "I noticed it was unlocked when we passed by it," she said, hitting a button that made the door slide open. It was an ordinary office, but Faye pointed to the computer on the desk. "I'm sure this must have some sort of internal directory," she said. "Miyu, you can probably hack into the program."

"Good thinking," said Katt. "Better hurry, though."

Miyu quickly went over and studied the computer, then began to hack into the system. "There! I think I found him," she said after a minute. "There's a prison unit located on the second sublevel…he's in block 1997 in Sector 7G."

"What about Pigma?" asked Fox. "Any idea on where we can find him?"

"If I had to guess…probably in the highest level, marked as 'classified'," she said drily.

Falco snorted. "Classified, my –"

"We'll need to split up," Fox cut him off. "Half of us will go and release General Felini, and take him back to the Falcon to help decode the file, the second party will go after Pigma."

"But won't that be dangerous, Fox?" asked Faye.

"Not necessarily. Kursed, I want you, Lucy, Hawkeye, and Faye to go after Felini. Me, Falco, Miyu, Scout, and Katt will go after Pigma."

"I don't know Fox," said Kursed. "I think I should swap with Miyu...or Scout. I've run into Pigma before, after all."

Fox had to smirk. Was Kursed jealous? "Kursed, Pigma is looking for you, it's less risky if you don't go running head on to him. Besides, I think your skills will be needed in raiding the prison unit, and you're the one with the plans."

Kursed didn't respond, but glared at him. "Listen, Fox, you're not _my_ leader…" she started to say, but Lucy smiled and put her arm around her. "Come on Kursed, from what you told us about beating the snot out of Star Wolf not once, but _twice_, I doubt those prison guards will stand a chance."

"If there are any guards," said Scout. "You think they'd be after us by now. It's too quiet, it's making me a little nervous."

"Only one way to find out. Let's go team! Keep all comm. links on," said Fox. The teams prepared to part ways.

Kursed was suddenly overcome with a strange feeling. A bad feeling. She wasn't sure what it was, but…

"Good luck!" said Fox. The teams went on the move, Fox following Miyu.

"Fox! Wait," called Kursed. He turned around.

"What is it, Kursed?" he asked, sounding slightly irritated.

She went over, trying to take in what could very well be one last look at him, and then kissed him gently.

Fox stepped back, looking stunned but pleased. "What was that for?"

She sighed. "For luck," she said. "I just had a feeling- a bad one."

"What is it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know…I'm still having trouble with my perception and feelings, it's been so long."

He put a reassuring hand on her arm. "You did great calling me over to Jericho. I could feel what you were feeling, I knew what you needed…I thought I may have even heard your voice. Maybe you're on to something. If you feel like anything is going to happen, or there's trouble, just do that again, okay?"

She nodded. "I will. But I have to tell you Fox…I'm not sure what it means yet, but it feels almost like…one of us might not make it."

*

"Well, Star Wolf, where is she now?" Professor Andorf's pitch black eyes bored through Wolf. Wolf returned the intense gaze with confidence.

"She's off to collect Star Fox. She'll bring Fox to you, and besides Kursed, you can have your revenge on Fox McCloud, just like you've always wanted."

"I see…what makes you so certain she'll return here?"

"Fox can't resist an opportunity to rid the galaxy of another one of Andross's brethren, and Kursed will follow because one, she'll want answers, and two, she still loves Fox."

"We are giving you more than you asked for," said Leon. "We are giving you Kursed, and Star Fox and Star Falco."

"If you're asking for a larger reward, I'll have to see if this plan works as you assume it will," Professor Andorf cocked his head at them. "You may have just let them slip through your fingers. There is still also the chance that Pigma could take them all down."

Wolf snorted. "You overestimate Pigma."

"Perhaps _you_ overestimate yourselves," Professor Andorf snapped. "Don't overstep your bounds just to try and get more than you were hired for. You are to follow my orders. I already have the power to make things go my way, more power than you realize."

Wolf nodded briskly. "Yes, there is a lot about you that we realize, we do not underestimate your powers."

Professor Andorf whirled around and marched out of the hangar bay. "You bring her straight to me when she arrives," he said, not bothering to turn his head to look back at them as he said this.

*

Kursed, Lucy, Hawkeye, and Faye approached the prison ward. "Freeze!" ordered a vacant-eyed hound dog. "You are not authorized to be on this level!"

Faye and Hawkeye drew their blasters, but Kursed stopped them. She shut her eyes and focused on the guard. His own mind was reading as a series of impulses, his own brain activity dulled by them. This had to be the mind control. She tried to read him through the interference. He was weak-willed, perhaps, but still of a good nature. She concentrated on that and began to feel it more strongly…but the impulses became too distracting, and that finally broke the connection between their minds.

"If you don't…state your business…I must…" the guard sounded confused and fumbled with his blaster. Lucy stunned him.

"Kursed, what did you do?" she asked. "For a second he looked, well, not like one of Pigma's brainwashed slaves. And he looked confused, like he had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Almost like you broke through the mind-control."

"Really," Kursed thought about this. "I tried to read his thoughts, but mostly I got interference. Something Fox said earlier got me thinking…if I try to read their thoughts, perhaps I can send out thoughts of my own to the people that are being brainwashed by Pigma or Andorf or whoever it is, and counteract it. I think it might have worked."

Faye nodded but nudged them ahead. "It's a great thought, and keep it in mind, but right now we need to keep moving. More guards will probably be coming."

"Right," said Lucy. They moved forward, quickly but carefully. The prison unit was like a maze, they made sure to carefully track their steps. "When we pulled the cell block code from the computer, we probably should have pulled the map information as well," Hawkeye pointed out.

The girls looked at each other, embarrassed by the obvious oversight. "Well, you should have mentioned that when we were _at_ the computer," Faye replied.

Hawkeye snickered. "I think Miyu is starting to rub off on you."

"Sector 7G- we're in the right area. Cell block 1997should be down this way," Lucy pointed them in the right direction. They reached cell 1997 and Kursed entered the code to unlock the door. It slid open, revealing a run down and defeated looking tom cat laying against wall and staring at the ceiling. General Felini's head slowly looked towards the door.

"You tell Pigma…I don't have anything else to give him…I have nothing," he said weakly. Lucy and Kursed moved into the cell while Faye and Hawkeye covered the entrance. Lucy knelt beside him.

"General Felini, I am Lucy Hare, daughter of Cornerian General Peppy Hare. I am here with teams Star Fox and Star Falco. We are here to rescue you, and we need your help in return. The plans that were intercepted from Brea were not the original files that were put in the computer system. Our brave ally, Kursed," she gestured to her, "was able to obtain the true copy, but we are having trouble decoding it."

"The plans? The plans have been intercepted…"

"Yes Felini, by us. I have taken them from Star Wolf, they were the ones who took the true plans, to try and prevent Star Fox from succeeding. And now we must hurry up and get out of here before- "

Kursed was cut off a by a loud siren. "Colonel Grey, be ready with the Falcon at the exterior of the capitol building," Lucy called into her comm. link. "We have the General now, but an alarm has been tripped. I don't know how much longer they'll let us get away with this."

*

Fox, Falco, Katt, Scout, and Miyu were taking an elevator up to the capitol building's top level. Scout was beginning to look very edgy. "Really, this is just weird how no one is coming after us," he grumbled.

"Calm down, Scout," Katt said in a low voice. She was used to him getting worked up whenever he got suspicious of something. Fox was nervous himself, he didn't like how Pigma was making this seem almost too easy either. Pigma wasn't the smartest guy in the galaxy, but he was ruthless when it came to getting something that benefitted him. Just ask Fox's father. With that thought, Fox was filled with a renewed anger towards Pigma. He was ready for him. Falco looked over at Fox and nodded. "I can't wait to give that walking scrap heap what he deserves!" he said, understanding how Fox felt.

They found themselves on the top level, in a sprawling, high tech room. Fox rolled his eyes as Pigma rose from a chair that was obviously meant to look like some sort of throne. Falco wondered who Pigma thought he was kidding. He had been restored roughly to the size he had been before the Aparoid infestation, perhaps a bit bulkier due to the fact that he was still mostly machine. They held their blasters at the ready.

"Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, long time no see," he drawled. "Now where is Kursed? I know she is with you."

"What does it matter?" said Fox. "She's worth more to us than she'll ever be worth to you."

"That's sweet Fox, but I doubt that. She's got a good price on her head. Even if Andorf doesn't want her anymore, there's plenty of other people in the galaxy that want her dead," he looked at Katt. "Or, how about I take this cute little kitty? Even if you don't read minds, I'm sure you're good at _something_." He licked his lips and reached for her. Katt yelped as his cold, greasy hands wrapped around her arm.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Falco yelled, firing at him with his blaster. Pigma laughed, but before he could attack Falco, Kursed's voice came over Fox's comm. link. "Fox, we have the General but somebody tripped the security alarm. We're being pursued. The Falcon is waiting for us out front, we'll be taking Felini directly to it to start on the codes."

"Who set the alarms?" growled Pigma. "There was supposed to be no attacks unless I said so!" He picked up his own comm. link. "Sergeant LeMur, why is the security alert going off in the prisoner unit?"

"It's Bassett, Master! It's almost like he's gone crazy, he says he doesn't know why or how he did it!"

"I have to do everything myself!" he slung his comm. link to the floor. He glared at Fox. "As much fun as it would be to kill you right now, Kursed is more valuable." He hit a button and a large hatch in the roof slid open. Suddenly, his shape began to shift.

"Stand back!" Fox shouted as Pigma's mechanical body began to expand.

"Get to your ships!" Falco ordered as Pigma transformed into an enormous, hulking robot that could easily crush the team like ants. They had just barely made it out of the room and into the elevator as the blast from Pigma's jets demolished the top floor of the capitol building.

*

Kursed, Lucy, Faye, Hawkeye, and General Felini ran through the maze-like prison ward. Or rather, Lucy and Faye dragged Felini along as they ran while Kursed and Hawkeye held off their pursuers

"What is that?!" called Bill from the comm. link. "There's been some sort of explosion from the top floor! I think…what the…"

"Bill! What's going on?" said Lucy desperately.

"Pigma has left the building!"

"Fox! No! They have to be…" Kursed desperately tried calling for Fox, but there was no answer.

"We have to keep moving," Hawkeye advised. They managed to make their way out of the ward and into the elevator, still being pursued by guards. They fought their way to the ground level and ran towards the Falcon, where they boarded with General Felini. "We must go back to the landing bay and get our ships," said Faye, as the giant pig mech in the sky caught sight of them.

"Hurry!" urged Slippy as Pigma prepared to fire at them. As they lowered the ship to the landing bay, Kursed was flooded with relief as Fox's voice came over. "Kursed! Are you guys okay?"

"Fox, oh thank God, I heard there was an explosion, and then you didn't answer your comm. link, I thought…"

"We're fine, we're about to reach the landing bay to get our ships and go after that slimeball."

They reached the landing bay at the same time. Kursed couldn't help herself, she ran over to Fox, embracing him. She was relieved, yet still couldn't shake that awful feeling. He hugged her back quickly, then stepped away. A powerful blast from Pigma blew away part of the docking bay, they dove to the ground for cover. "Let's go!" he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before hopping into his ship.

They raced after Pigma, speeding and weaving between buildings. Pigma, however, took out anything that got in his way. Part of it may have been due the enormity of his structure, but it was also due in part to his lack of regard for anyone other than himself.

"Come on, lead the way!" he cackled. "I want you to take me to Professor Andorf!"

"You'll have to kill me before I tell you anything!" said Kursed.

Pigma snarled and fired a blast in their direction. "Don't be stupid! You can't beat me! I'm giving you the chance to live!"

Kursed hesitated, then headed towards the atmosphere.

"What is she doing?" Miyu said in a panic. Was Kursed about to betray them again?

"Let's follow her," said Fox. He had a feeling he knew what she was up to.

*

On the Falcon, Lucy and General Felini were on a video transmission with Peppy. Now that Felini had been given some water and a nourishment capsule, he became a bit more alert. He waited for the plans to load up, then frowned as the encrypted file came up. "I have never seen this code before," he said, trying to decipher it. "Ms. Hare, do you have the other file?" She handed it to him. He studied it, then put it in the drive. "That's what I thought," he said as he skimmed through the older readouts. "_These_ are the ones that my intelligence team and I intercepted and planted in the computer."

"So what are these, then?"

He looked at the other file carefully. "These are almost the same alright, but it's a larger file, it must have additional information, that they didn't want us to see. Someone must have known we were coming for them and altered and swapped out the plans."

"That's what we thought," said Lucy, gritting her teeth. "Damn Star Wolf."

Felini pointed at Lucy's comm. link. "Do you mind if I borrow that?" he asked. "I will contact my intelligence team, perhaps we can still decode it."

*

They were back in the Evola orbital, Kursed trying to stall for time, hoping that would give Felini the time he needed to decode the final readouts, the ones she hoped gave a key to Pigma's weakness.

"So the stories are true then, Kursed. You really have become a cold-hearted bitch, willing to let Fox die to save your own skin," Pigma said with delight. "No wonder Professor Andorf thinks you'll be the perfect weapon for him…or for me!"

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Pigma, or believe that I would let Fox die to help YOU!" she turned her ship to face him and fired. The rest of the team emerged from the atmosphere, ready to take Pigma down.

"Take me to Professor Andorf, or all of your friends will die!" Pigma screamed.

"If we go down, we're taking you with us!" replied Falco.

Their ships swarmed around Pigma, firing at him and dodging his hits. His strong firepower and size were the perfect combination with his natural ruthlessness. Pigma was merciless, firing with a devil-may-care pace and swinging at ships with his giant arms to bat them away. One arm struck Miyu, destroying her wing and causing massive damage, forcing her to go back to the Falcon.

At least she didn't die out there, Fox couldn't help thinking, remembering Kursed's ominious feeling. He fired with a mad fury at Pigma.

"Lucy, any luck with encrypting those files?" asked Kursed. "I don't know how much longer we can hold him." Scout had also had to return to the Falcon after he got a direct hit from one of Pigma's shots.

"We're trying to Kursed, but these aren't the files he intercepted. They were given the wrong files in the first place."

She cursed Star Wolf under her breath. She dodged a stray blast and focused on Pigma, trying to search in him for a weak point.

"Hang on guys, I just saw something, I think I got it!" Falco's excited voice broke her concentration. "Back off, Fox, let me through."

"Falco! Wait! Don't get cocky!" said Katt. Falco, of course, didn't listen.

Pigma laughed, swinging his massive arm down at Fox. Fox readied himself for the heavy impact, but instead felt a collision from the side, flinging his ship away from Pigma. "Falco, watch it, what are you- " Fox said.

"I'm not letting you take another McCloud, you bastard!" Falco yelled at Pigma, looping underneath his arm.

"Then I'll just have you!"

Pigma's giant mechanical hands wrapped around Falco's ship. "Too late Pig- I gotcha!" was the last thing that Fox heard Falco say over the voice com. Falco fired and there was a burst of flame on his chest. Pigma let out a squeal and suddenly stopped in action and began to slowly spin, smoke and fire beginning to emit from him. Katt cheered.

"Back off guys, he's gonna blow!" called Scout.

"Hurry up Falco, get out of there!" shouted Fox. Falco was still trapped in Pigma's grasp, struggling to break free. Fox and Katt fired at Pigma's hands, hoping to blow them loose.

"Fox, Katt, come on!" Miyu yelled. Fox barely jetted out of the way in time as Pigma exploded into a ball of raging fire.

"No!" Katt let out an anguished scream that ripped Fox's heart in two. He turned his ship, he didn't care that the intensity from the brightness of the explosion burned his eyes, he watched intently, unblinking. He was waiting for Falco to come bursting out of the chaos, making some corny wise crack about Pigma's bacon being cooked or something. Falco had always come back for his team. But the fire was slowly burning itself out and there was no sign of him. But just maybe…

"Kursed," Fox asked. "Do you think…did Falco make it out of there?"

Kursed was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Fox," she said regretfully.

The last glimmer of hope inside of Fox burned out with the fire. He turned his ship to the Falcon. He wasn't sure whether the stinging and blurring of his vision was from staring at the explosion or from tears threatening to escape, but it didn't matter. Falco Lombardi was gone.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Fox could recall only one other time he felt like this- completely numb. It was when Peppy had told him of his father's death. He'd been too young to remember much of when his mother died. It had also hurt when Krystal left him, but this was different. At least he knew that she was alive and out there somewhere. Just like whenever Falco left the team for awhile, Fox had known he was out there somewhere, and would probably be back, except when they had their falling out. But even that was different.

Fox had insisted that he be the one to give Peppy the news. What he really wanted was to talk to Peppy. Peppy knew what it was like to lose his best friend. James McCloud had been Peppy's best friend when Pigma handed them over to Andross, and Peppy had been the only one who made it out alive, he hadn't been able to save his best friend from death either. But Fox couldn't do it, even if he was able to get the words out, now was not the time.

There was a definite somberness in the air, but like all wars, the fight could not be put on hold to mourn the loss of a soldier. Not only that, there was the mysterious disappearance of Dash Bowman to worry about. They had not received any signal from him and feared he'd been captured by Professor Andorf. The team pressed on, traveling to Professor Andorf's hideout on Bludo, and readying their ships. Slippy was holding back sniffles as he worked on ROB. Fox looked and saw Katt, staring blankly out a window. If there was anyone who felt worse than him right now, it was probably her.

Fox went over to Katt and squeezed her hand. "Listen Katt," he said softly. "Falco loved you, you know that, right? Even if he never said it or admitted it to himself, he did love you. I could tell." He wasn't just saying it to be kind, it was the truth.

"Fox is right," Kursed said from behind them. They turned around. "You don't even have to be a telepath to know he did," she added with a small smile.

Katt lowered her head and nodded, her jaw clenched. "I know. I just want to be alone," she said, and walked away.

"She'll be okay, I hope," said Fox, not feeling so sure. "She's strong."

Kursed nodded. "Are _you_ okay, Fox?"

Fox let out a shaky breath. "I just can't believe it…it's so stupid, I wasted all this time being mad at him, when it was all my fault, really."

"No, it wasn't, Fox…"

"I ruined my friendship, I ruined everything with you, my team…"

Kursed grabbed his hands. "Fox, listen to me. Sometimes, things happen for a reason. It's part of nature, and just like nature, you can either let changes destroy you, or learn to adapt."

"You're amazing, you know that?" he said.

Kursed blushed. "I was giving some old cliché advice. It's not even my quote."

"But you're right," he said. They turned and watched the team at work. Their talk turned to idle chatter about the upcoming endeavor and their team mates. They watched as Miyu tried to help General Felini with the codes to the readouts.

"She's very skilled, isn't she?" Kursed nodded her head towards Miyu. Fox nodded, watching her.

"Oh yeah, she was a professional hacker in her younger days, which comes in real handy, and she's a real sharp shot," Fox was oblivious to the expression on Kursed's face. "Her problem is she doesn't have much self-discipline. She's kind of a big mouth and-"

"So have you and Miyu ever…" Kursed couldn't help herself.

Fox jerked his head over in surprise. "What?! No. Never even considered it."

"Really?" she asked, sliding towards him

"Really. I don't look at her that way, she's like a little sister to me. She's the kid sister I never had." He wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew she wanted him to kiss her, but he couldn't bring himself to, for reasons that had nothing to do with her. She seemed to understand. He rested his face on her shoulder for awhile. "It's always been you, Krystal," he murmured.

She gently pushed him back a few inches. "My name is Kursed," she reminded him, kindly but firmly.

"Sorry…Kursed." They were silent for a few moments.

"You don't have to be Kursed anymore, you know," Fox said. "I would let you join Star Fox."

"Oh, really? You'll _let _me?" Kursed narrowed her eyes. "You'll _let_ Kursed join Star Fox, but not Krystal? Or do you mean you'll only _let_ me join Star Fox if I become Krystal again?"

"I just mean, the bounty hunter business, you wouldn't have to do it anymore."

"It's not that easy, Fox," she snapped. "It's how I make a living for myself, and I'm constantly in danger because there are plenty of people who would like to get my head for themselves. I can't stay in one place for very long. I couldn't endanger everybody else."

"We'd protect you, and if you weren't killing anyone, then other people wouldn't want you dead…"

"Stop acting like I'm some cold-blooded killer! The people I go after deserve it!"

Fox stepped back. He didn't mean to make it worse, but he couldn't control the anger that was boiling over. "They deserve it because you get money for it? Pigma got paid for turning my father over to Andross, does that mean my father deserved to die? Did Falco deserve to die?"

The cold mask fell over her face. "I know you're upset about Falco, but don't you ever compare me to Pigma or Andross again."

"People I care about have died because of people like you! People that will kill for money!"

"So what do _you_ do, Fox? Did General Pepper pay you to deliver a big bouquet of 'Let's be friends' flowers to Andross and the Aparoids?" she said.

"That's different and you know it! You don't know what it's like to lose your friends and family-" He didn't realize what he was saying until it was too late.

"You're absolutely right, Fox. I have no idea, even after I lost my family, my friends, my home, and everything I ever knew on Cerinia! Tell you what, since I'm so ignorant of your feelings, since I'm too horrible of a person to have around, I'll go take care of Star Wolf and Professor Andorf myself. I'm sure me being a killer and all will come in handy!" She stormed off, grabbing her belongings. Without a word to anyone else, she hollered over her shoulder, "I'll be back only to get my ship," before she hopped into the Wolfen and blasted into space.

Fox let her go.

*

Professor Andorf was ready for them. He slid on a pair of black gloves, wriggling his fingers up to the tips. Angry as he was with Star Wolf for their reckless plotting, he knew they were probably right that it would work. He did not bother to send out brain frequencies to them, they would pursue Professor Andorf on their own accord. Destroying Fox McCloud so soon had not been in the original plan, but he was pleased about the opportunity to destroy the next generation of the McClouds sooner than expected. Just as his own family's generations had been destroyed or ostracized, except for that blood traitor Dash Bowman, who was determined to deny any loyalty to what it meant to be a descendent of Andross. But Bowman was under his control now. And soon, Kursed would be too.

Professor Andorf was not worried about Kursed or Star Fox, his powers exceeded theirs greatly. It had been Dash Bowman that held him back, and Kursed was to help him finish breaking the link between their minds and their blood. Then she would become his next weapon, tapping into the minds of others and weakening them, giving Andorf information so he could better control them. Between Kursed and the Core Brain, Andorf had the means to become more powerful than Andross had ever been. Though Andross had mastered his science of weaponry and touched on telekinetics, he never quite mastered the latter. But Andorf had mastered both of them, yet his base was not heavily guarded. Should there be an intruder, either he could easily manipulate their minds or the objects around them to stop them. The Core Brain was able to maintain the frequency of Professor Andorf's mind control throughout the galaxy, and the closer one got to it the stronger the frequency the harder it was for even the strong minded to fight it. And should anyone attempt to destroy it…

He smiled to himself, imagining Fox McCloud thinking he could come in here to save the day, only to meet the same fate as his father, James. An urgent message came in over the voice transmitter. So Pigma was dead. Professor Andorf felt no pity. He'd had it coming. Yet, as he heard the news that ace pilot Falco Lombardi had also gone down with Pigma in the combat, something did not sit right with him about these events. His smile faded into a frown that distorted his face into an even more grotesque mask. Perhaps it was because he wanted to finally come out of the shadows and prove his power by killing them himself.

Beeps from the radar screen caused his evil grin to return. Kursed was approaching the base now, and from the looks of it, Star Fox wasn't too far behind her. He picked up his comm. link and informed Star Wolf of the news. How lucky they were…

*

"Fox! We got it!" Miyu cried excitedly. Even she knew that it was best not to ask Fox what Kursed storming out of the Falcon was all about, it had seemed a bit personal. Besides, they had finally cracked the code to the plans, and right now that was top priority.

The team crowded around to look at the screen. Miyu enlarged it so they could all see clearly. At first the layouts were basically the same, but Fox noticed a small difference. "These ones are missing the Professor Andorf signature. He must have added his signature to the decoy file because he wanted to be discovered."

"Well, he must have known Pigma wouldn't be a loyal ally when it came down to it," Scout pointed out. "He probably wanted to make sure we knew who the real genius was."

"Yeah, it never seemed right to me that Pigma suddenly had such technically advanced skills," Fox agreed. They reached a new screen with plans they had never seen before- Pigma Dengar. "Speak of the devil," Fox said, reading the diagrams of the pig-mecha bio-weapon. He still couldn't believe that the greedy bottomfeeder who was once a Star Fox member with his father had become such a mechanic monstrosity over the years.

Katt pointed to an area on the chest of the diagram. "See right here? It looks like this area right here houses the main ciruit board that kept him alive, Falco must have gotten it exposed during the fight."

Fox had been able to forget about the emptiness in his heart for a couple of minutes, but Katt's remark brought it flooding back- not just about Falco, but now Kursed too. She and Fox exchanged a look of mutual sadness, yet both knew they had to be strong for the teams' sake. They went to the next diagram- it was of an enormous, polygonal orb called the Core Brain that housed Professor Andorf's telekinetic powers and used energy to keep the force constantly running so those under the influence could be controlled at all times.

"How will we destroy this thing?" asked Faye. "Look at its destruction defense reaction."

"A black hole effect? How can such a thing be possible on an artificial core?" Scout asked incredulously.

Lucy was studying the Core's plans. "Professor Andorf takes after Andross alright. He is one insanely brilliant scientist. I remember reading about how Andross had experimented with creating artificial black hole reactions. It looks as if Professor Andorf has figured out the formula. Having the physical properties from telekinetic brain waves certainly helps the effects as well."

Lucy continued to try and explain the science behind Andorf's method in hopes of helping the team figuring out a way to destroy it without destroying themselves, but Fox didn't hear a word of it. All he could think of was Kursed, flying off alone to take down Star Wolf and Professor Andorf. She had no idea that if she destroyed Andorf's main weapon, that she would be sucked into an inescapable black hole, maybe even taking Bowman with her. He was sure that Star Wolf knew of the reaction and would gladly let her go at it. His bitterness and grief subsided. No way would he risk losing another person so close to him. He stood up and ran over to his ship.

"Fox, what are you doing?" cried Bill in exasperation.

"I'm sorry Bill, but I'm heading to Bludo now. Follow me, we have to get there quickly. Kursed is on her way to fight them alone, and she has no idea that destroying Andorf's power will kill her, and maybe Prime Minister Bowman, as well."

*

Kursed flew towards Bludo. The cold drabness of the tundra moon fit her mood. She refused to acknowledge the pain in her heart from leaving Fox yet again. It was his fault, he had driven her to do it. She refused to wonder why he hadn't tried to stop her, if he really wanted her to leave. Besides, hadn't she learned that distracting herself with the emotions and feelings of herself and others only complicated things and made it difficult to carry out her duties? She tried to shut off her mind, yet a stray thought trailed in- Dash Bowman is somewhere here on this base. She sensed him. How could she neglect such an important factor in this mission? She would have to rescue him as well. She closed her eyes to gage his condition, then let out a sharp gasp as pain flooded her head and a darkness stung her eyes. _All is lost…_

No. Dash Bowman couldn't be dead too. She gripped the controls of the Wolfen. She had to shut off her mind again, this time because the physical pain had been too much to bear. She would just have to rely on strength and natural instinct alone to fight this.

She landed the Wolfen in the hangar bay and climbed out of the ship, her blaster drawn. She had found it odd and unsettling earlier that there had been almost no security on Andorf's main base. He was confident in his power. Perhaps she could try to infiltrate his mind, as she did with the prison guard on Evola earlier. She shut her eyes to try and pick up on his life form.

She fell to the ground heavily as a large wolf pounced her from behind. Wolf O'Donnell licked his lips eagerly as Panther, Leon, and Jackal held her down. Wolf lay on top of her, his breath hot on her face. "Welcome back, Cookie…"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

This was not how Peppy wanted to end his run as General. He had never imagined his last run to be one that cost a planetary system their hero with Dash Bowman, and also an old friend with Falco Lombardi. Any triumph of destroying Pigma Dengar had been squelched by their losses. Peppy feared that Fox would not be able to keep control of his leadership, he had not looked well when he contacted Peppy for the debriefing. Not that Peppy could blame him. In all his years, Fox had yet to lose a team member in battle, and in spite of all their sparring, he knew Falco had truly been Fox's best friend.

The calls were coming fast and furious as information leaked out. Was Pigma really destroyed? Was it true that Falco Lombardi had died in that combat? Why did Colonel Grey walk away from his general training to jump into battle, and where was Venom's Prime Minister? Peppy redirected most of these calls to other representatives. He knew it was not wise to brood during a crisis, but he felt like a failure, and it had all began with trusting Star Wolf, whom he only agreed to trust in the first place because Krystal had been part of their team. Cornerian authorities had since placed a large reward for anyone who could turn over Star Wolf to them.

Peppy heard a voice, but surely it had come from his own mind. It was a voice that was assuring him all was not lost. The war was still being fought, but good could still prevail. Lives could still be saved. Peppy took comfort in the voice, yet worried about how the stress was taking a toll on him, much like it did to Bowman. After all, the voice that had spoken to him was somebody who had been dead for nearly 20 years. It was the voice of James McCloud.

*

General Felini boarded the charter ship that would be taking him back to Evola. Bill prepared to follow in his own. Bill would be protecting and accompanying Felini and would begin helping the CDF troops and remaining Beljar soldiers in clean-up missions.

Lucy watched anxiously as Bill climbed into his ship. Bill himself cast a long look back at her, smiling and saluting at her. "Be safe out there, Lucy. I need you to come back in one piece." He waved at the rest of the team. "All of you, take care of yourselves." With that, he closed the cockpit and exited the Falcon. The others also boarded their ships to follow Fox.

"It's always good to see Bill," Slippy remarked. ROB nodded his head, without even the slightest creak in his joints. Slippy had finally gotten ROB up to full power, all new parts seemed to go, so he could help pilot the Falcon with Slippy as they came closer to Bludo.

"You said it, Slip. He's going to make a great general. Just like your father, Lucy," Fox said over the voice com. Suddenly something flew over the tops of their ships and slammed into the Falcon.

"What was that?" asked Fox, looking at his radar screen. "It looked like an asteroid hit us."

"I know, but the coordinates don't show any asteroid fields in Bludo's surrounding sectors," Slippy replied, struggling to find the source of the impact. The ship was shook again.

"We are approaching Bludo," said ROB. "Incoming asteroid."

"That's no asteroid!" said Hawkeye as Bludo slowly came into view. "Look, I see chunks missing from there."

Fox watched closely as the moon seemed to remove a chunk of rock from itself and hurl it at their ship. ROB took it out with a laser.

"Does Bludo have a history of being an ustable planetoid?" asked Faye.

"I don't think so," said Fox. "I have a feeling that this is telekinetics at work."

Katt shuddered. "That's some strong telekinetic power."

"Everybody, be ready, it's not lasers and missles we're going up against, this is going to be much harder…"

*

Kursed found herself in a pitch dark room, bound to a chair. She growled to herself. Star Wolf thought they'd gotten the best of her, but she'd show them. She was struggling to break free of her bonds when a light came on, hurting her eyes. She was in a sterile looking, circular room that held nothing but the chair she was in and a what looked like an operating table that was covered by a sheet.

The door to the room slid open. Star Wolf entered, followed by a tall and wiry baboon in a long lab coat. As she looked at him more carefully, she realized that not only was he fairly young, but he in fact was not actually a baboon, but was wearing grotesque paint on his face to make it look like one. Could this be the elusive Professor Andorf? She met his pitch black eyes and felt a throbbing in her head. She shut her eyes and her mind, forcing any thought force out of her head. Yes, this had to be him.

"Well, well, well," his voice was high and raspy. "The infamous bounty hunter, Kursed. We meet at last. Pleased to make your acquaintance, I am Professor Andorf." He held out a mocking hand for her to shake, smirking at her arms bound behind her. "I am very excited by your presence. Here, this might make you feel more at ease." With barely a wave of his hand, the ties lashed away from her arms and legs. The friction from the action burned her, but she restrained herself from wincing or rubbing her arms where it had hurt. Instead, she put it towards her rage and lashed towards him and Star Wolf.

She flew back, sliding on her bottom. It was like an invisible force had shoved her to the ground. Professor Andorf nodded. "That wasn't wise, though understandable. You are afraid, but I can assure you I have no intentions of hurting you."

"Why do you think I'll help _you_?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Because you'll have no other choice," he answered calmly.

"Where is Prime Minister Bowman?" she demanded.

"You don't need to worry about him," he said. "Dash Bowman is under my control for now, safely secured and tucked away."

Kursed decided to try a different tactic. She stared at him and then closed her eyes, determined to enter his mind.

"Aaahhh!" Kursed crumbled to the ground as a piercing pain stabbed into her head. She curled up and laid her head on the cool metal floor, as if that would stop the agonizing waves from reaching her head. Professor Andorf giggled humorlessly.

"Nice try, nice try indeed. But do you really think that it would be that easy to get in here?" He pointed to his head. "In time, my dear, I'll let you in. We'll be allies very soon here. That's quite a talent you have. Not very many people who truly have the power of telepathy out there. Just as there are few out there with the power of telekinesis, and even fewer who have learned to apply their knowledge and power to it, as my ancestors did. My grandfather, for instance, the great Emperor Andross. Perhaps you've heard of him?" He asked the last question with antagonizing sarcasm.

"Andross is your grandfather? So you are related to Bowman…"

Professor Andorf crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "Relative is such a loose term. Dash Bowman is a blood traitor, he has betrayed his own roots, he is ashamed of the legacy before him. One shouldn't feel shame for their family history, especially one as strong as ours!"

"Andross was a monster!" Kursed screamed. "Bowman is right to be ashamed! He is a good person, unlike you and the rest who have given in to their demons and gone bad!"

Andorf shook his head. "Regardless, we're getting off subject. Emperor Andross never thought to seek out those with other powers, to combine them to be the ultimate power in ruling the galaxy. Brains will always triumph over brawn, Something my little pawn Pigma never quite realized."

"I never understood, why Pigma? Why not just come after Lylat yourself?"

Andorf snorted. "I know that you are not so simple minded to have not figured that out. If you're trying to stall me, don't worry, you are not keeping me from anything that I'm not ready for. So I will explain, if you must know. For years, I studied science on this uncharted moon in secret, experimenting, creating, honing my telekinetic powers. When I came across the remains of Pigma Dengar, I knew I would eventually have the abilities to rebuild him, resurrect him, so to speak. Pigma is known for his ignorant greediness, and I knew if I played my cards right, I could convince he and others that he could be a threat to the galaxy, and test the true powers of my Core Brain. It'd be stupid to try such an experiment on Lylat first, so I chose Beljar, and I knew if I had a distress call sent out to Corneria, Lylat would come gunning to the rescue. I figured I'd let Pigma have his fun and make some damage before he was surely destroyed, and while Lylat would be busy patting themselves on the back, I would move in on them. I must admit, I'm surprised that I was found out sooner than expected," he glanced at Star Wolf. "But no worries. Things are going as planned, if not better that planned."

"So why do you need me, and Dash Bowman?"

"Very well, you will be working closely with me and I am going to need your help ensuring Dash stays under my control, so I will explain. Surely you have figured out I have telekinesis of extraordinary power, so strong I can manipulate peoples' thoughts and actions. Whereas, you can really get into peoples' minds, see their thoughts and memories, their feelings, foresee danger and find their weaknesses. Together we will be partners, ruling the galaxy with our joined powers."

"But why bring Dash into this? He has never sought out to hurt you,"

"You didn't let me finish. Dash is a threat to our legacy! Not only does he settle for mediocrity, but he _is_ trying bring me down! I used to wonder if he ever even realized what he was doing, our minds have some sort of connection that I think he refuses to see, as it may make him less good than he strives to be, and as long as his mind exists, my full power cannot be realized. Our minds cannot co-exist. I would kill him myself, but I fear that it may lessen my own personal mind power, if the power is truly shared with him. So I have simply put his mind under my control for now, and I also need you to help me break the bond between Dash and I for good, to find the answers, and find a way of killing him that does not put my mind at risk."

Kursed attempted again to enter his mind, and again let out a scream as she was met with a strong wave of pain. She shut out her mind, imagining she was pushing the pain back at him.

Amazingly, Professor Andorf flinched and staggered back a few steps. His black eyes widened, and suddenly Kursed was met with a brief flash of Andorf's mind, but almost as soon as she saw it, it was gone, replaced again with antagonizing throbs.

"You are a fighter, Kursed. I like that, I like that. But if you are going to enter my mind, it will be on _my _terms." Professor Andorf's comm. link beeped and he held it up to his ear. He grinned, and then turned to Star Wolf. "Well Star Wolf, I must say that was some excellent thinking on your part. Star Fox is approaching Bludo as we speak. You truly deserve your rich reward."

Andorf waved his hand and the sheet whisked away from the operating table, revealing an assortment of weapons- knives, guns, and detonators. The blasters and weapons that Star Wolf had on themselves seemed to float out of their holding places and landed on the operating table with the other weapons. Andorf waved his other hand and sets of bonds flew over to them and wrapped tightly around their wrists as their arms were forced behind their back. An invisible force pushed them to their knees.

Professor Andorf slid open the door and turned to them. "I'm sorry Star Wolf, but I can't trust you any more than I could trust Pigma. Lylat will surely capture you and try you for treason, and you know far too much now. In the meantime, I will go take care of Star Fox, and Kursed, I encourage you to use whatever means you so desire to dispose of Star Wolf. You will know where to find me when you are finished with them." With that, he glided out of the room. The door shut behind him, leaving only Kursed and a defenseless Star Wolf at her mercy.

*

Fox and his team dodged and weaved their way through the hurtling chunks of planet. The Falcon took out as many of the chunks as it could. As they flew to the surface of Bludo, the icy grains of the ground swirled up as if caught in a violent windstorm, shielding most of their vision.

"I can't see a thing!" whined Miyu. "How are we going to find the base?"

"Pay attention to your radar screen," said Fox.

"Oh yeah…I would have thought of that, you know."

"The base isn't much farther," said Faye. "According to my radar, we're coming up on it."

"Something's happening to my radar!" cried Hawkeye after a few moments. "It's getting some sort of interference."

"Mine too!" cried Miyu desperately. "All my systems are failing."

Fox's own systems slowly started going. "Everybody, hold on! Andorf is causing interference with our ships. We're almost there, just try to make it to the base!"

Fox soon realized that wouldn't be a problem. It was as if they were being pulled by a tractor beam into the moon base. Andorf was using his power to pull them into his clutches, and trying to take their defenses. Fox's ship, despite the fact that its power was completely dead, glided into the hangar bay of the base and landed neatly as though he'd landed it naturally.

Fox knew he needed to get out of his cockpit, but that display of power had taken his breath away. Not even Andross had been that confident in his power to literally pull Star Fox to his lair. He hoped that Kursed was safe, and that Dash Bowman was still alive here somewhere. He braced himself for whatever force met them next and climbed out of his ship. The others followed suit, all equally shaken by the experience.

"We should just surrender now, Fox. That was too much…he has too much power," said Scout. "Even our weapons probably won't help."

"Don't talk like that, Scout. We'll never surrender. If we go down, we go down fighting," said Fox. "We'll stay together, and look for Kursed. I have a feeling her telepathy is key to our survival."

"I hope you're right," Scout grumbled.

"If we want to find Kursed, I have a feeling he has her located near the Core Brain. He'll want to keep her telepathy at bay, and I think he knows he'll have to be near a close proximity of the core to control a strong mind like hers," said Lucy. "Which means we ALL have to be careful. We are all strongly susceptible to falling under his mind control, if he tries to use it against us."

They all looked at each other nervously. They hadn't thought of that, that one of their team mates could turn on them if they fell under Andorf's control.

"If that happens, set your gun for stun. We will not lose another team member, got it?" said Katt.

"Absolutely. If I get that dead eye thing going on, don't hesitate to stun me," said Miyu.

They walked out of the hangar, blasters drawn. The paranoia in the air was heavy. Fox and Lucy moved cautiously side by side. Now was probably not the appropriate time, but Fox couldn't help asking, in case he didn't get the chance to ask the question later.

"You know, Lucy…I've been thinking…would you like to try joining Star Fox again? Or maybe even Star Falco now that they're…down a member? You were always a strong team mate, and either team would be lucky to have you. You've been a great help to us."

Lucy smiled, but shook her head no. "I'm sorry Fox. But my heart lies in the CDF."

"Listen, Lucy, if it's because of how it was a few years ago, I can swear that it'll be different this time."

"It's not that, Fox. I know my father would be thrilled if I joined up with your team again, but I like what I do now. I like knowing that I am helping Corneria keep a strong and secure army, and want to make sure the right decisions are made. Besides, with Bill soon taking over as General, he'll need somebody to assist him and help him get situated."

Fox nodded. He had to smile. He should have known that it was because of Bill, not the past, that really made Lucy want to stay with the CDF. Not that Lucy didn't love her job or do it well, but he had a feeling she also enjoyed working closely with Bill.

"You know Fox," Lucy said hesitantly. "Father always wanted you to take over for him. He always believed in you, and thought you would make an even better general than he did. I know Bill would let you step into the position over him-"

"No, Lucy. I could never do that. Bill earned that title, and he's loyally served the in the CDF all this time. That's what Corneria needs. I'll be happy to help him whenever he needs it, but I'm not cut out for being a general." He grinned. "Remember, Star Fox does things their own way!"

"How could I forget?" Lucy smiled. "I know Father will understand that."

Suddenly, they were interrupted as a great explosion rocked the floor under their feet.

"Kursed!" cried Fox instinctively. Suppose she had attempted to destroy the Core Brain? He took off down a long hall, something was pulling him in that direction. Was Kursed sending him another mental call for help?

"Fox, slow down!" cried Katt, taking off after him. The rest of them followed, unaware that several guards draped in black were following them. They also did not see another group slip by them, climbing into ships and blasting out into space.

*

Kursed looked down at the wide array of weapons on the table, trying not to feel pleased by the possibilities that they held. She picked them up, fingering them and inspecting them. Something in the back of her mind pulsed, oh how she would enjoy finally getting her revenge on Star Wolf, those two-faced bastards, after all they put her through. The question was, did she want to make it slow and painful, or something quick yet obliterating? She picked up Wolf's own blaster and twirled it in her hand, grinning at him.

Wolf and the rest of his team returned her stare calmly. "If you want to hear us beg for mercy, you'll never get that from us," he said. "We are not afraid to die."

She aimed it between his eyes. "Are you sure about that, Wolf?"

Wolf blinked, but nodded confidently. "Just one last request. All I ask is that you look at your enemy. Really _look_ at them, _know_ your enemies."

Kursed lowered the blaster and looked at Star Wolf. As much as she loathed them this moment, there was another part of her that nagged at her. There was a time that Star Wolf had been like a family to her. A dysfunctional family, for sure, but still people that were there for her nevertheless, helping her in their own way that they knew. She purposely avoided looking at Panther. That would be the hardest, she knew. No. She could not be weak. The past didn't matter. Star Wolf had chosen the path of betrayal and deceit, and now they would pay their price. She eyed the weapons again, then looked again at Star Wolf.

_Look at your enemy…know your enemies_. That had to mean something, Wolf wouldn't be so cryptic for no reason. Perhaps he was withholding one last bit of information from her, and was hoping that she'd just go ahead and kill them first without taking the bait. She would not be so rash. She stared into the eyes of Star Wolf, all of them- Wolf, Panther, Leon, even Jackal. Her eyes locked on Wolf's. After a few moments, she shut her eyes. Finally, she walked over to the lab table and picked up a knife. She went behind Panther and raised her knife, cutting his bonds free, then did the same for the others, Wolf last. She went and picked up a detonator from the table and walked toward the door.

"Go," she said in a low voice. "Run now while he is distracted, and hide yourselves somewhere in the galaxy where you won't be found for awhile."

"Kursed," Panther started to say, but she shook her head.

"Just go," she said, opening the door and flipping a switch on the detonator.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

"Fox! You can't just- you don't what you're getting into!" Katt called after Fox as they ran down the hall. They heard Faye scream as she fell to the ground. They readied their blasters and turned around. Hulking, ape-like guards dressed in black surrounded them. One of them had Faye pinned to the ground. Scout growled and fired his blaster at it, but it barely made a scratch. The guards let out deep chuckles. Another one reached out and grabbed Lucy by the throat. Hawkeye gave a futile shot, then lunged for him. He was flung back like a limp ragdoll, but had startled the guard enough so Lucy was able to struggle free from his grasp. She let out a startled cry as her blaster backfired on itself.

The apes each seized a team member, pinning their arms behind their back. Only Fox stood there untouched with his back to them.

"Fox! Wait! You can't leave us!" called Miyu. Fox turned around, his green eyes stared blankly back at them. The corners of his mouth were twitching. Something was pulsing in his mind. _"Destroy them. They never needed you before now. They are defenseless, at your mercy. You'll be your own leader."_ Fox clicked the setting on his blaster. Something in the back of his mind knew this wasn't right, but he couldn't say what it was. There was a buzzing in his head that was muddling his thoughts, confusing him. He wasn't sure who he was anymore or these people in front of him were, were they friends or foes? _"They are the enemy,"_ the voice whispered, nagging at him. But yet, he knew that wasn't what the task at hand had been. He'd been looking for something else, someone else. _"Them. You want them dead!" _Throbbing pulses jarred into his forehead.

He raised the blaster. Suddenly, a different sensation washed over him, breaking through the other impulses. Whatever it was was still muddled, but he could hear other faint voices- a male voice and a female voice that seemed to have a soothing effect on him.

"No, Fox. This is not the way. Follow your instincts, follow your heart…"

"Listen Fox, don't hurt anybody! I'll be there for you, I'm coming for you now! I love you…"

*

Kursed dropped to the ground as the explosion from the nearby room rattled her head. No, wait, it wasn't just the explosion that rattled her. A vision flooded her mind- six enormous and eerie apes were holding Star Fox and Star Falco, leaving them defenseless. Fox was smirking menacingly, his blaster ready to take them all out as Professor Andorf stood behind him, the puppet pulling the strings. He was going to mentally force Fox into killing his friends and team mates. Her old friends.

"No!" she cried out. She couldn't let Andorf win. Not now. She had to try and stop Fox before it was too late. She shut her eyes and her telepathy would work like it had on Jericho. Already, the interference from Professor Andorf's device was making it difficult to concentrate. She opened her mind and her heart, silently screaming out desperately to Fox. She took off running, trying to stay focused on sending out her messages to Fox's mind while trying to make her way through the maze-like base to where Fox and Andorf would be. Now that she knew how she could try to trigger his weakness and use that as a way to tap into Andorf's mind, she could only hope to get there in time to put her plan to the test.

*

"Fox, please, don't…" Katt pleaded, her eyes wide with fear and begging. She didn't fear for her own life, but for Fox giving into Professor Andorf's mind tricks. Katt's pleas were lost on Fox as he struggled to grasp the confusion in his head.

_"Yes, yes, do it! Do it now!"_ hissed the voice. With that command, the team could hear the voice themselves. They saw a figure coming up behind Fox.

"It's time to end this war now, Fox," it said.

Fox was breathing heavily, still aiming his gun and glaring at his team mates. "You're right," said Fox. He tapped his finger on the trigger. Some of them winced, waiting for the shot.

Fox whirled around, his shot now aimed squarely at Professor Andorf. Fox studied the mysterious Professor. In some ways, he was the exact opposite of Andross. Andross had always sought out ways to make himself literally larger than life, making sure his physical prowess was as strong as his intellectual power. Andorf, however, merely altered his appearance to reflect the mad scientist that he was, with his baboon-like war paint, and the evil within manifested itself in his eyes, like two pools of black ink. In fact, the way he was built and carried himself reminded Fox a lot more of Dash Bowman than Andross, but his evil matched that of Andross.

A cold grin filled Andorf's face. "Ah, Fox, somehow I knew you wouldn't be able to kill them, just like Kursed wasn't able to kill Star Wolf."

"What have you done with Kursed? And Prime Minister Bowman?"

"Surely you know by now I like to keep some things a secret."

Fox fired a shot at the Professor, but he easily deflected it. Fox was barely able to get out of the way of the rebound shot. In his anger, Fox fired a few more times, each shot deflected back at him. The last one grazed his side.

Andorf clucked his tongue. "Not very smart, are you Fox? All action without thinking things through. You think because you were able to get me out of your mind, you stand a chance?" He turned to his guards. "Release them."

The guards let go of Fox's friends. They stood there blankly, confused. Scout raised his blaster and aimed it at Fox. The others followed suit. Some of them looked as if they were attempting to lower their weapons, then their arm would jerk back up to its target.

"Some friends, aren't they Fox? Who knew they would turn on you so quickly? All I have to do is give them my word and your very own team members will be your own firing squad."

Fox and Professor Andorf stared at each other, silently challenging the other. What was stopping them from attacking, Fox couldn't be certain, at least on Andorf's part. A stabbing pain connected with Fox's head, breaking his eye contact. Andorf giggled and raised his black-gloved hand.

"Now Star Fox, Star Falco, look at your leader, he is your target. Good, good. Set, aim, and fi- arrrggghh!" Andorf doubled over, his hands grasping his head. Kursed burst in behind him and the group dropped their blasters with a noisy clatter.

"What's going on?" Faye asked dazedly.

"Andorf is trying to control us," Fox said. "He's trying to turn us on each other. Don't listen to anything your mind is telling you right now!"

Professor Andorf had righted himself and turned to Kursed. "You," he hissed. "Your telepathic mind games won't work on me. The only reason I won't kill you is because soon it will be impossible for you to fight me."

"I know you won't kill me," Kursed said calmly. "The question is, will you really be able to kill _them_?"

"What kind of stupid question is that? I'm not weak like you are, Kursed. But soon, you will be as strong as I am, and we will work together to make this galaxy ours," he smiled. "It seems almost worth it to keep Fox alive just so he can feel the pain as he watches his beloved join powers with the grandson of his father's killer."

With a fierce growl, Fox dove onto Andorf, knocking him to the ground. He was nose to nose with Andorf, his teeth bared and his eyes glared down at him. Andorf made no attempt to fight him off. Fox was resisting the urge to tear him apart right there, but something within him- not Andorf's control or Kursed's telepathy- held him back. "I should kill you, like Andross killed my father," he said finally through gritted teeth.

"I might be worried if I knew you had it in you," Andorf said with a lazy wave of his hand, sending Fox flying off of him and into the wall. Kursed went to his side. "You're weak just like your father. If you had any true killer instinct I might keep you around."

"If you're Andross's grandson, then are you brothers with Dash Bowman?" asked Hawkeye.

"Where is Dash?" asked Katt.

"Yes Professor Andorf, tell us," said Kursed, looking at him intensely. "Tell us about Dash Bowman. What is he to you? Where are you hiding him?"

Professor Andorf seemed almost afraid to answer that. Yes, Fox had definitely caught a flinch of fear at Kursed's questions. He quickly composed himself.

"Dash is under my control. Now no more games, Kursed. I'd hate to make you suffer before you're completely mine. But just for that, I should make you take out all of your so-called friends here, seeing as you couldn't even take care of that slime Star Wolf."

Kursed's face became a cold mask. She nodded, looking at her former team mates. "If it must be done." Her gaze stopped on Katt. Kursed grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her over so that Katt was in between her and Andorf. She spun Katt around so that she was facing Andorf and grabbed a blaster from the floor, pointing it at the back of Katt's head. "But I don't want to see their faces as I do it, if that's okay. I'm sure you won't mind seeing the last look on Katt Monroe's face as I take her down for you."

Katt whimpered. Fox didn't understand what Kursed was getting at with this. He was about to spring forward and grab Katt from the line of fire, but he felt a quick flash from Kursed telling him not to, to just wait.

Kursed and Andorf's eyes were locked on each other. "She's already lost the one person she loved most because of you. What more does she have to lose?"

"Pigma killed Falco Lombardi," Professor Andorf pointed out.

"How do you know I meant Falco?" Kursed countered, cocking her head as her stare intensified.

"Any idiot who pays attention to what's going on around them in the galaxy knows that."

"You created Pigma into the monstrosity that he was. You gave him power. So you are responsible for Falco's death."

"It doesn't matter who killed him. The important thing is he's gone now," Andorf's face twitched.

"Yes, it must feel good to know that you've killed the leader of Star Falco, the person who took a chance on Dash Bowman. And now you'll get to kill his other team mate. The team that helped and supported Dash Bowman into becoming the great leader he is," Kursed's eyes never left Andorf, but she was about to fire the blaster. Katt was shaking, her eyes wide. Andorf was twitching even more now.

"Kursed, don't!" Fox yelled as the gun fired. The other team members shouted at that same instant, diving towards Katt and Kursed, but it didn't matter. As the blaster went off, it had flown into the air and exploded as Professor Andorf screamed and fell to the ground, unmoving and stunned with pain. Fox hit him with a stun blast to keep him immobile while they had the chance.

"What just happened? What the hell is going on, Kursed?" Fox demanded, grabbing Kursed by the shoulders.

"He wouldn't let me kill her," she said. "I knew he wouldn't let me go through with it."

"Why? I've never even met Professor Andorf before all of this in my life, why would he care about sparing my life?" Katt was still horribly shaken.

Kursed smiled sadly. "Yes you have, Katt. You were once team mates together. He wouldn't let her die because he cares about her. Don't you guys get it yet? Professor Andorf _is_ Dash Bowman. They have always been one and the same."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"What?!" they shouted collectively at Kursed's news.

"What are you talking about? That's impossible. How do you know?" asked Fox.

"I found out from Star Wolf, they told me."

"Star Wolf?!" Fox exploded. "Those traitors? And you believed them? Where are they, I'll make them tell us what's really going on."

"They're already gone. I let them go," Kursed said.

"You let them go? You let them go! That's just great, what if they were lying to you and setting you up again?"

"They were telling the truth," Kursed answered confidently. "I looked deep inside them. Andorf had already betrayed them, they didn't owe him anything. They had nothing to lose. There's no time to explain it right now, but they've been helping us all along."

"You call that help? Even after everything they did to you and running out on Corneria?" Fox scoffed. "And why would they help you after everything?"

"Wolf has his reasons," Kursed said with a strange smile on her face as she glanced towards the hangar bay.

"Forget Star Wolf! I still don't understand how Professor Andorf is Prime Minister Bowman," said Miyu.

"I'm still trying to figure it all out. Some of it I got from Star Wolf, some of it I felt when I figured out how to tap into Andorf. It's like he had split his personality into good and evil and became two completely different people. I don't think Bowman even knew he was Andorf or that Andorf knew he was Bowman until it was too late. I tapped into his mind and made him see that he was Dash Bowman."

Scout shook his head. "How could he not know?"

"Bowman never made the connection, so he never realized his actions as Professor Andorf, they blacked out each other's actions. As Andorf gained power, he used the Core Brain so he could keep control no matter where he was, I think. Eventually he got strong enough to completely take over Bowman's part of the mind."

"We should kill him right now while we have the chance!" Scout said.

"No, Scout!" snapped Katt. "We need more answers. If it's true, then…" she trailed off.

Fox understood. "Kursed," he said. "If you could make him see that he was Dash Bowman and weaken him, do you think that maybe you could find a way to bring Bowman back?"

"That's the plan," she said. "But the interference from the Core makes it hard to focus, and-" she was cut off as Andorf made a strange gurgling noise and began to spasm on the floor. "Don't anybody shoot," she instructed. She shut her eyes as his spasms became more violent. He bolted upright and Kursed flew back onto the ground, crying out. Her hands were pressed up against her forehead.

"Never again," he hissed, almost to himself. He went over to Kursed and grabbed her. "You think you have it all figured out, don't you?"

"I think so, _Dash_," she said, refusing to wince as he tightened his grip on her. She stared into his eyes, past the blackness, willing him to see the truth. He released his grip on her and she dropped to the ground.

"Don't you ever call me that again! If you do truly have it all figured out, we'll kill Dash Bowman right now!"

"Dash, please don't. This isn't who you are," Katt said. Andorf sent her hurling into a wall.

"If Falco were here, he'd never let you hurt Katt like that, Bowman!" said Fox, glaring at him.

"You all think that throwing something like that in my face will stop me?" he sputtered. "I AM NOT DASH BOWMAN!"

Kursed felt a vise-like grip around her arms and legs, Andorf had seized her with his invisible force. The black guards that had stood dormant suddenly lashed out and began attacking the others. While they were distracted, Andorf drew Kursed over to him as if by an invisible rope. "You want this to end, don't you Kursed? Let's go end this right now." He whisked down the long hall way. Kursed realized he was levitating, racing through the air at a great speed. She was being dragged along behind him as if she was tethered to him, dragged through a downward sloping corridors that were taking them to the core of the base.

*

Fox barely held off the hulking attacker. They seemed less strong this time around, but nevertheless, they were still a force to be reckoned with. Out of the corner of his eye, Fox saw Kursed being dragged away by Andorf down the corridor. "Kursed!" he cried out, but Andorf was moving too quickly. The walls shook and large shards of metal came hurtling at them. Scout ducked and the metal struck the guard that he was in combat with. Fox went to go take off after them, but the guard grabbed his arms and swung him out of the way.

Fox's own blaster was pulled out of his hand against his will. All of their blasters were suddenly pulled high up into the air and landed in the hands of Andorf's guards. The guards paused, and then began firing at the team.

"This won't work! We have to get to our ships!" Fox shouted. "And we have to get to Kursed and Andorf!"

"Come on, hold together everyone!" Lucy said. They dodged the laser blasts from their own weapons that were being used against them. "The hangar bay is this way!"

They raced to the hangar bay. "Slippy, I want you to bring the Falcon into the hangar bay and keep a look out. We are getting our ships and will be heading for the Core Brain, you and ROB keep looking to see if you can find any way past the black hole effect!" Fox ordered through his comm. link.

"Got it!" Slippy replied.

"I hope the power to our ships has returned," Hawkeye pointed out.

"Me too," said Fox. The ground and walls were still rumbling around them as the place felt the effects of Andorf's rage. Sporadically, metal beams and other junk would fly off the walls and hurl around aimlessly. Fox reached his ship and to his relief, it appeared to have full power. "All systems go, everyone else okay?" he asked. The others replied that everything was running okay.

"Let's go get them!" Faye cried.

They blasted into the corridor, which now seemed much narrower that they were in their ships. The shots from the guards were now futile compared to the firepower of their ships. They blasted away, their shots easily took them down now. They crumpled to the ground, clearing the way toward the core.

"My ION-220," Miyu said regretfully, looking at her blaster left on the ground.

"That's the least of your worries, Miyu," snapped Fox. He boosted his ship and sped down where he last saw Professor Andorf taking Kursed. They dodged and weaved through narrow spaces as hunks of beams and scrap hurled towards their ships.

"I'm sending a map to your radar right now," Slippy said over the comm. link. "Hurry up and get to that Core Brain!"

"We're trying!" Fox said through gritted teeth. He had just barely blown a hunk of metal off course from hitting his ship as he squeezed his ship between two narrow beams. The others were having just as tough of a time trying to maneuver through the tight spaces while dodging and shooting the debris. He wondered what could possibly be going on in Professor Andorf's head to be causing this chaos, and hoped that whatever it was, Kursed was okay. He tried to feel what Kursed was feeling, but couldn't get a clear answer.

*

Professor Andorf reached the door to the control room of the Core Brain. After an identification process, the doors opened for him. A large, polygonal orb sat spinning in the room, surrounded by a strong, visible force field. The hum from the core and the auxiliary machines that powered the force field hurt Kursed's head. Her thoughts were momentarily scrambled. She could feel her thought process weakening. _No_, she told herself. _Get a grip. Stay focused. _

Professor Andorf released Kursed from his invisible hold. "Welcome Kursed, to my greatest invention. Greater than even Emperor Andross's telekinetic amplifiers. I present to you the Core Brain. I'm sure you can feel its power even as we speak."

"I'm not some weak minded fool," she murmured, trying to sort out her thoughts.

"No, you're not," Andorf agreed. "So tell me then, Kursed, how to end this connection with Bowman."

"I- I can't even think straight! The core is making everything all- confused," she groaned. This made Andorf angrier.

"Are you trying to fool me? Your cheap tricks don't work on me! Get that through your head!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "No, get _this_ through your head!" Summoning a power from deep within her, she directed all of her mind's strength at him, her thoughts on Dash Bowman, willing him to see the truth. Professor Andorf let out a booming shout, knocking at his head with his fists. "You want the answers, Andorf? I have them. It's not my fault you don't like the truth!" she said.

"Liar!" he said in a strangled tone. Kursed refused to let up. Her body was shaking as she poured all of her energy into focusing her thoughts on Andorf/Bowman. The interfering hum from the core pounded at her head, demanding to be let in. She didn't know how much longer she could keep it- and Andorf- out of there. She knew it was risky, but she forced herself into Andorf's mind.

It was only a few seconds before she was sent reeling back in pain as he forced her out again, but Kursed was not discouraged. He was weakening, she felt it. And this time, she thought she'd felt Bowman's presence too. She steadied herself and looked at him determinedly. "Do you want to know how to get rid of Bowman?" she asked, and without waiting for his answer, she forced her way into his mind again, making him see that he was Dash Bowman and that the light could still overcome the darkness.

This time as Andorf rejected her, he himself shook with a violent spasm. Kursed just barely caught a flash of bright blue in the Professor's normally black eyes. Bright blue like the color Dash Bowman's eyes. It was swallowed by the darkness in a matter of seconds. Kursed took a few steps towards him. "Accept it, Andorf. Dash Bowman is still alive and well inside of you. The truth is, if you want to kill Bowman, you'll have to kill yourself doing so."

"No," he hissed. "No, no, no. I have overpowered him before, and I will squelch all of his power. You'll see. Not even you can stop me." He waved his arms and Kursed screamed as he intensified the power of the Core Brain.

*

"We've reached the Core Brain," said Fox, looking at the radar screen. "There's an ID security setting, let's blast that thing!"

Fox and Katt blasted the security computer system. The doors slid open, revealing a large room that housed a massive orb protected by a force field. All the activity in the airwaves scrambled ship's radar readings and control settings, making it hard for Fox to keep control of his ship. He spotted Kursed and Professor Andorf. Kursed was crouched on the floor, looking as if she were in great pain. Andorf himself was struggling to keep his bearings, his teeth bared and the paint on his face smeared grotesquely to make him look like more of a monster than he was. Yet, through all of his war paint and evil, Fox couldn't help seeing glimpses of Bowman in him. He shook it off. It was only because now he knew the truth about Andorf.

"Kursed!" he shouted desperately into his comm. link., hoping the interference wouldn't keep his transmission from reaching her. "We're here to stop this. Are you okay?"

"Fox," she struggled to say. "I can save Bowman…but you have to stop the core…"

"I can't right now, Kursed! It will destroy us all! There has to be another way."

"It's too strong Fox. You must do something!"

"Slippy!" Fox called. "Look at those readouts, is there any way we can weaken the power on this thing without blowing it up and killing us all?"

"It appears there's a remote near the base of it, but you can't get to it unless the force field is deactivated," Slippy answered.

Fox scoffed. "Deactivating a force field is child's play. Come on, gang, let's take it out!" He sounded more confident than he felt, all the interference was making him feel a little disoriented. He studied the core and its auxiliary equipment. "It looks like there's four transmitters on each wall. You'll probably have to aim towards the base of it or your shots will just bounce off the field."

Professor Andorf realized what they were about to attempt and lashed out violently, sending more shrapnel across the room. A large hunk of scrap hit Kursed from behind, breaking her focus on Andorf.

"Kursed!" Fox called out.

"Don't worry about me, Fox. Get rid of that force field," she said weakly, stumbling to her feet. "I've got Andorf." She turned to him to continue their face off of the minds.

"Kursed, I…" Fox started to say, but his comm. link buzzed with interference.

"I know, Fox," she answered.

Fox focused all of his attention on the wall transmitters, being careful not to hit the force field itself. Lucy had already nearly gotten herself and a couple of the others taken out by her own rebounding shot. He held his breath as he locked on to the base of transmitter and fired, blowing it up. He could see the force field weaken immediately. He did the same for the three other transmitters and soon the force field was gone completely.

"Now where's that remote?" said Scout.

"Wait Scout! We can't risk destroying the remote, we don't know what it will do to the Core. We'll have to lower the power manually," Fox said."I'm right there, I can see it. I'm landing my ship. You guys cover me, will you?"

"Be careful, Fox," said Miyu. Fox went over to the Core Brain's remote and began working on adjusting it, but his eyes stayed on Kursed and Andorf.

Kursed was mentally and physically exhausted, but she was not one to give up without a fight. She didn't know if it was interference from the Core or from Andorf's own mental conflict, but her mind had been a confused mess of good and evil. Now, she could feel some of her mind strengthening as the core powered down. Was it too late though?

No, it was not too late. She felt a powerful feeling run through her, something that was coming from an outside energy. She looked over at Fox and his ship and smiled, then turned back to Andorf.

"This is where your legacy ends, Professor Andorf," she said, thrusting all of her telepathic powers at him. Andorf was ready for her. He tried to shield her oncoming force and she crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

"No!" Fox ran to her side. Not Kursed. He couldn't let Andorf take her from him too. He pressed his ear to her chest and felt a heartbeat. She was still alive. He held on to her.

"Fox, take care of Andorf. I'm lowering my ship, I'll bring her in and take her to the Falcon in the hangar bay. We'll take care of her there," said Faye. Fox didn't argue. He helped gently place Kursed into the small area behind Faye's cockpit and Faye flew out of the Core's control room.

Meanwhile, Professor Andorf had been reeling from his own collision with Kursed's powers. He was tearing around blindly, his hands clawing at his head and face, shouting unintelligible gibberish. In the midst of his thrashing, he summoned two indistinguishable items as if from thin air.

"If you're going to take us down, then you're going down with us!" he croaked. He staggered over to the core and scrambled up the orb. As he did, he slapped a blinking detonator onto the core itself. He reached the top of the core and with his eyes squinched shut, he pulled out a flashing detonator remote and held it triumphantly in the air.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Professor Andorf's eyes flew open. Only they were no longer the pitch dark eyes of Andorf. The brilliant blue eyes of Dash Bowman looked back on them as the remote to the detonator still flashed in his hand.

"Go," he instructed. His voice was weary, but no longer the high rasp of Andorf. Dash Bowman was speaking to them. "Once the core blows, Bludo and everything on it will disappear into a black hole. I'll give you a head start."

"Dash?" asked Katt. "Is that really you?"

He nodded, tears streaking down his painted face.

"Prime Minister Bowman, come with us. The Falcon is in the hangar bay. You could stay with us. Kursed can help you," said Fox.

Bowman shook his head. "I can't Fox. It's too dangerous. Who knows how long I can keep Andorf at bay, even with Kursed's help."

"Then we can keep you somewhere, in an institution or something. Even being locked up would be better than…" Fox couldn't finish his sentence.

Bowman refused. "I can't risk it. It has to be this way. I swore I'd end the legacy of evil." He nodded his head at them. "Star Falco, Star Fox, thank you. And please thank Kursed. You have all truly been loyal friends."

"Dash, please don't," begged Katt.

"Yeah, you can hitch a ride on my ship. We're not going to just leave you," said Fox, but Bowman silenced them.

"It has to be this way," he repeated. "Please, just go. Leave me. I deserve to die for what Andorf has done. Keep the galaxy safe, I'm counting on you. My life will be the last one lost for this war."

"Come on, let's go!" called Katt to the team, her voice thick with emotion.

"I will detonate in T-minus 8 standard minutes. That is how long it should take you to leave here and clear the blast area," said Bowman.

They knew they could not fight him any longer. Dash Bowman was determined to end this evil at any cost. Fox boarded his ship. Without another word to Bowman or to each other, the group fled the core. As they approached the hangar, Fox notified Slippy and ROB of the situation. They blasted out of the hangar into the vast space. Yet, Fox couldn't swallow the lump in his throat. This wasn't right. No matter what the risk could be, he had to take Bowman with them.

"I'm going back!" he called.

"What?! No Fox, you're crazy! You'll never get in and out in time!" shouted Miyu.

"It's a risk worth taking," he said, flying at top speed back into the base without hesitation. "You guys hurry up and clear out." When he reached the core, Bowman was just resting his finger on the button of the remote.

"Fox! No! Get out now!" Bowman yelled, but was soon enveloped by a burst of smoke and flame. Several explosions filled Fox's ears as he turned his ship. What _had_ he been thinking? It was too late for either of them now. The explosions sounded widely spread apart, slowly growing in intensity as Fox pushed the throttle as hard as he could. With the repairs done and the high intensity G-Diffusers he'd put in on his ship, there might be a chance he could make it out of there. He could feel it. Heck, maybe there was even the chance that the Black Hole Effect would fail. The opening of the hangar was in view.

As if responding to his thoughts, he suddenly felt the world pull back on him. He pushed the G-Diffusers to full power and just as he thought he really might make it, his ship was pulled against its will towards the core, tumbling out of control as the black hole slowly spanned out of the middle of the fiery destruction, consuming the entire base and moon. His team mates watched in horror as Fox's ship spun down and disappeared into the event horizon.

*

Kursed slowly woke, worn out but feeling better than she had in a long time. Slippy and Faye were looking at her, yet they didn't look relieved that she was awake.

"Slippy, Faye, is everything okay?" she asked. Wait, if she was in the Falcon, then the others were still fighting Andorf. She jumped up and ran to a port window, where she saw a giant, fiery ball that was once Bludo pulling in on itself as a dark hole spread from the center. Her heart skipped a beat. Her head was still a bit befuddled from dealing with Andorf, she couldn't figure out if they had made it or not. Her feelings were jumping from one to the other.

Her question was soon answered as a swarm of ships pulled into the docking bay. Star Fox and Star Falco slowly entered the main area of the Falcon, exhausted and sad-lookng.

"You made it!" Kursed cried, hugging Lucy tightly. Her eyes searched the group. "Where is Fox?" she whispered.

"He- he didn't make it," explained Miyu. This was the most subdued Kursed had ever seen her.

"What do you mean?"

"You did it Kursed, you saved Dash from Andorf's control, and he- Dash- sacrificed himself to destroy the Core Brain," Katt struggled to contain her emotions. "Fox tried to go back to save him."

"Three great leaders, taken by this war," Lucy said quietly. "We must inform my father of this news."

"Why did you let Star Wolf get away? It should have been them, not Fox!" Slippy shouted at Kursed.

Kursed said nothing. Oddly enough, she felt nothing at this news of Fox. Had the fight with Professor Andorf really left her inner senses that skewed? Finally, she said, "Star Wolf helped us. Without them, we might not have found out about Professor Andorf and the truth about him until it was too late."

"What are you talking about?" said Slippy.

"Yeah, just because they told you about Andorf after he screwed them over doesn't mean they wouldn't lie about other stuff to save their skin. Why would they run unless they were lying about everything?" demanded Miyu.

"They weren't lying. I could feel it, from all of them. Wolf let me know everything," she tapped her head. "Professor Andorf did hire them to capture me because he knew about our connection, but Star Wolf knew better than to trust Pigma or Andorf. They knew nothing good would come of their plans and would do anything to keep Pigma from succeeding. Pigma was a diversion for Corneria, and Star Wolf are the ones who added the Professor's signature to the decoy plans as a clue for us. They were able to get their hands on the real read outs and when they kidnapped me, they knew if they let me get the plans and escape that I could take you all back to the hidden base, and that I could use my telepathy to tap into who Andorf really was. They figured out early on that Andorf and Dash were the same person."

"I still don't buy it," grumbled Scout.

"Yeah," said Faye. "Miyu's right, why run? Why not just be heros and battle them from the start if they knew what was going on?"

"Maybe they were tired of being heroes," Kursed said. "Star Wolf has always had a bit of a backwards way of helping others." Her mouth twitched in an almost smile. "Wolf probably let me know more than he intended."

The team fell silent, thinking this over and reflecting on the recent events. "I must contact my father," Lucy said finally, turning to the video monitor and signing into the Corneria Headquarters transmissions. Soon Peppy's face filled the screen. "Lucy, everyone, I've been worried sick. Did we get him? Is everything okay?"

"We got him, Father," Lucy said slowly. "But…we lost Bowman, and we lost Fox."

Peppy was silent for several moments, as if trying to decide whether or not to believe this was true or not. "No," he said finally. "Are you sure about that?"

"We saw Fox fall into the black hole. He tried going back for Bowman but it was too late," said Hawkeye.

"Bowman sacrificed himself to destroy the core," Lucy added.

"Wait," said Kursed. Her eyes were shut. "I can feel something. Fox. He's still alive, somewhere."

"I feel it too," Peppy said quietly.

*

Fox had felt as if he had pulled inward on himself. Everything faded away into complete white and then Fox saw nothing, felt nothing, knew nothing. He floated this way for awhile until his senses came whirling back to him, nearly sending him into shock. He gasped for breath, his knuckles aching from grasping the ship's yoke so tightly. His ship was still tumbling through the void, though at a strangely slower rate. He righted his ship and tried to take in his surroundings. He was floating in a strange whirl of of compressed light patterns, fog, and wreckage. Was this the black hole, or was he dead, and this was whatever came after? If he was dead, why would he still be in his ship? Not that he didn't love his ship, but it just seemed odd.

The signal from his ship's voice com interrupted his thoughts. "Fox," said a hauntingly familiar voice. "You have done well, you did a brave and honorable thing to try and go back for your friend. All is not lost."

"Father? Is that really you?" Fox gasped. He must be dead then. He looked at the communication screen and sure enough, he could see his father's face.

"Yes Fox."

"Am I…dead? Where am I?"

You are in a black hole Fox. Just like one that I was sent into."

"But, Peppy told me that you died at the hands of Andross."

"He's right. Andross used me as a guinea pig for one of his experiments, to see if he could create an artificial black hole."

"Oh," said Fox. "So then I am…"

"You are not dead, Fox. You barely escaped the explosion. Those enhanced G-Diffusers may have saved your life when you got pulled into here," James smiled. "I might have helped, too."

"So you're not dead either," Fox said excitedly."Father, we can escape from here together."

"No Fox. Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky. I didn't live through Andross's experiment. But most things that get pulled into a black hole remain lost in space, stuck in a limbo between dimensions. I can see both the living and the dead sometimes, but I can't completely be with either. But sometimes, when I have felt that somebody has needed me," James McCloud reached up and removed his sunglasses, looking at Fox with his own eyes. "I could come to their aid, only for a short time. Even I can't explain it completely."

Fox swallowed. So all those times he thought he'd seen and heard his father, it hadn't been his mind playing tricks on him. He had really been there. "You were there, Father. Your soul still lives." Fox couldn't explain it completely either, yet he had a strange understanding of it, this soul lost in a black hole phenomena.

James smiled suddenly. "Peppy Hare, a general huh? Who would have thought!" He snickered and shook his head. "He is a great general. I've missed him, it was good to see him again after such a long time."

"Peppy? When did you see Peppy?" Fox had never heard of Peppy seeing James.

"This war has left Peppy in a bad state. I felt he could use the comfort of an old friend," he said.

Fox didn't know what to say. Here he was, finally able to talk with his father after all these years, and he was too overwhelmed to even know what to say first. James seemed to understand. He nodded at Fox and put his glasses back on.

"Now go, my son. I will always be there for you. There are too many people relying on you out there to waste any more time."

"Thanks, Father," Fox said. He readied his ship, feeling confident. All systems appeared to go. Somehow, he knew what he'd have to do to get out of there.

"Keep an eye on Falco, will you?" said Fox, readying the G-Diffusers. "Even if he thinks he doesn't need anybody, I know he does." James smiled and saluted. Fox pushed the throttle to full force and prepared to escape the cosmic graveyard.

*

Kursed had felt something. Fox's presence seemed to be growing stronger by the minute. Star Fox and Star Falco waited anxiously at the large window, watching the distant black hole.

"I see something…it's him!" Miyu shrieked happily.

Fox's ship was like a phoenix emerging from its fiery ashes, blasting out of the abyss towards the Falcon. "Come in, team! I'm heading towards the docking bay now!" he called.

His ship pulled in and his team mates flocked to his ship, hugging him and giving other relieved forms of affection over his return. Kursed gave him a strong embrace. Fox thanked them, still reliving the moments with his father in his head. He went over to the video monitor where Peppy grinned at him tearfully.

"Fox! You're okay! I knew you'd make it!" Peppy said. Fox grinned back and nodded. Again, he wanted nothing more than to talk to Peppy and tell him about his father…but again, now was neither the time or place. But, he would have plenty of time to talk about it when he returned to Corneria. Peppy was thinking the exact same thing. Their eyes met in a mutual, unspoken understanding.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

"Yee-haw! You did it Fox! I knew you all would come through!" Bill's voice came over the voice com of the Falcon.

Fox's elation was quickly wearing off as the reality of the situation sunk in. Somehow, he couldn't feel completely happy about their teams' victory. The loss of Falco, and what would Lylat think when they discovered that Venom's renowned leader had fallen prey to his family's evil? Was this a true victory? Dash Bowman had never wanted to go out that way.

"It's over, but I can't believe he's gone," Fox said quietly.

"Yeah, some victory, huh?" said Miyu, matching his morose tone.

"Dash…he was supposed to be a hero. And now, what will happen to Lylat when they hear the truth?' said Katt.

Fox thought about it for a few moments. "They will hear the truth- that Prime Minister Dash Bowman was the brave, good hearted leader we all believed him to be. Professor Andorf was the enemy, ours and Bowman's. Bowman never wanted to associate himself with Andorf and his evil. That's why he could keep himself as a separate being. He battled his enemy bravely until the end. He deserves to go out as a hero, we owe that to him. Him, and Falco…maybe even Star Wolf."

"And you, Fox," said Faye. The group nodded and murmured in agreement.

Fox shook his head. "_All_ of us."

*

The Falcon landed on Evola a while later to rendezvous with Bill and sign out with the Beljar Military. General Felini, Colonel Bruen, and many members of the Beljar Military were there to see them off. General Felini shook their hands.

"Thank you Star Fox and Star Falco. You'll find you have been handsomely rewarded for all that you've done," he said.

Miyu nudged Hawkeye sharply. "See, I told you guys we'd get enough from this to fix all our stuff up!" He shushed her. Felini cleared his throat.

"You also have our eternal gratitude. Had it been left in the hands of Star Wolf…"

"Star Wolf did what needed to be done," Fox interjected. "Without them, our victory would have been impossible."

General Felini nodded curtly. "Then they also have my thanks."

The Beljar soldiers gave hearty cheers as they boarded the Falcon. "It's a shame Star Wolf didn't stick around to get the credit they deserved," Scout remarked.

Fox smirked. "I'm sure wherever they are, they'll do alright for themselves. They always do."

*

On a distant planet, Panther, Leon, and Jackal sat in Star Wolf's latest hide out, drinking heartily and gambling with each other. Wolf entered the room, a drink in one hand and a large case under one arm. He finished his drink in one gulp and slammed it down on the table.

"Well boys!" he said. "It's been feeling pretty good hasn't it, not being military tools anymore and getting back to our roots- doing what Star Wolf wants to do!"

"Yeah, sure. But now we're back to square one- not enough money and everyone wants us dead for money," Leon grumbled.

"Almost…but not quite!" Wolf opened the case and dumped a large amount of money onto the table.

Panther's jaw dropped. "Kursed still gave us our cut of the share?"

"She's a woman of her word, I'll give her that," Wolf said, grinning. "Things are going to be on easy street for awhile, sometimes it pays to leave the heroics to Star Fox!" Wolf laughed and Star Wolf clinked their glasses in agreement as they looked at the amount of money sitting before them.

*

Fox stood on the bridge of the Falcon, looking out at the distant stars as the ship made its way back to Corneria. As the team members were all well overdue for some rest, ROB was in no real hurry to get them back to Corneria. They would rest for a standard overnight span before heading to Corneria for the victory ceremony.

Fox was still having mixed feelings about everything. He wasn't even sure what he would do after this. What would become of his team or of Star Falco, or of Kursed? Kursed had said she would go her separate way before they landed on Corneria and refused to give them anymore details.

"Fox?"

He turned and saw his team mates behind him, except for Kursed. Miyu, for once, looked like she was uncertain about what she wanted to say.

"Fox, we've been thinking…since Star Falco doesn't have a leader anymore…" she said, almost shy.

"And since this mission was a success, for the most part, why don't we all join forces and become the new Star Fox team?" added Katt.

Fox looked at Katt. "Katt, are you sure?" Even though Falco had been the leader of Star Falco, it had been Katt who gave him the idea for the team. She also certainly had the capability of being a strong team leader.

Katt nodded. "Absolutely. We're a great team, and you're a great leader."

Fox didn't have to think very hard about it. Deep down he'd been hoping for this. "I can't think of a team I'd rather be a part of."

Slippy cheered loudly from the cockpit. ROB, being a robot, stoically expressed his thoughts. "This is exciting news."

"Fox?" Someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

He turned. Kursed stood behind him, looking more beautiful than he ever remembered seeing her. She wore a simple dressing gown rather than her bounty hunter uniform or combat clothing, but it wasn't just that. It was the expression on her face, something about it was different than before, or perhaps he'd gotten used to it and he was seeing the beauty within that still radiated from her.

"Kursed," he said, still stunned.

She moved towards him. "Call me Krystal, Fox."

He embraced her. "Krystal…will you…"

"What?"

"Will you join Star Fox?"

She sighed and buried her face in his shoulder. "Oh Fox, you know I can't …"

"Then be with me? I will protect you."

"I can't do that either. Not now, after everything," she removed her arms and stepped back.

Fox shook his head. "None of that matters now."

Krystal shut her eyes and was silent for a moment. Finally she opened them and looked deep into Fox's eyes. "Someday, we'll be together again, Fox. I can feel it. But now is not our time."

Fox tried not to show his impatience. "When?"

"I don't know," Krystal admitted, stepping back into him and putting her arms around him. "But for now, we have until tomorrow…"

*

On the planet Corneria, hundreds of Cornerian soldiers and civilians were gathered, awaiting the homecoming of their heroes. They looked anxiously at the horizon until finally a child spotted them and shouted excitedly, "Here they come!"

Their ships broke through the atmosphere, the sun glinting off their wings as they lowered their altitude to reach the landing field. They climbed out of their ships and marched proudly down the long aisle, accompanied by the soldiers in the CDF and Venomian Forces who had served their time. A few Venomian soldiers in the front carried a memoriam for Dash Bowman and the CDF carried a memoriam for Falco Lombardi. Tributes and a twenty-one gun salute were given to the two lost heroes.

Star Fox reached the podium, where they were greeted by General Peppy Hare and Colonel Bill Grey. Peppy and Bill gave each team member a badge of honor.

Fox smiled at them. "General Hare, Colonel Grey, Lucy Hare…thank you. For everything."

"Thank you teams Star Fox and Star Falco for your courageous achievements," said Peppy.

Fox turned to acknowledge the crowd. "Thanks must also be given to Star Wolf, Falco Lombardi, Prime Minister Dash Bowman, and all of you."

Peppy nodded and gestured to the team. "Congratulations to the new Star Fox team, and their courageous leader, Fox McCloud!"

The crowd cheered wildly and Star Fox raised their fists triumphantly in the moment. Fox couldn't help grinning as he was overcome with a sense of triumph. They had done it, all of them had played an important part at stopping two planetary systems from being overtaken by evil forces. As he looked at the faces of the people around him, he realized that no matter how bittersweet the victory was, there was always hope. Hope that people would come together for a greater cause, whatever it might be.

He looked over at Peppy and they nodded at each other, smiling. Krystal had been gone when he had awoken, but he could almost hear her voice telling him that she loved him, and felt it in his heart. Bill and Lucy were holding hands. Katt stood there strong and proud, her chin tilted to the sky. Slippy was surrounded by his children, who were hopping up and down around him excitedly. The rest of his team was taking in their victory happily. Yes, they were now his team, his friends, and a hope for Lylat. That in itself was a reason to feel victory.

Miyu was cheering as loudly as the crowd. She'd made herself look surprisingly lovely for the occasion. She caught Fox's eye and grinned. Fox grinned back and slung an arm around her shoulder. He looked up towards the sky and he swore that he could see the face of his father in the clouds, smiling down on him proudly.

Yes, hope would always be out there, looking down on the world. Hope was the force that kept the planets turning. Hope would always be there because even in the darkest reaches of space, a bright star can be found.

*

And sometime later on a remote forest planet, a mother fox will tell her young son bedtime stories beneath the starry night time sky. The boy listens intently to these tales of the legendary Fox McCloud and hopes that one day he can seek out his hero to follow in the footsteps of the father he has never known…

**I did it, it's done! I haven't followed through on a story in 4 years and am very glad I made it! Even though this is really a "fluff piece" compared to what I usually write and I have never written a video game fan fic before, I had the most fun writing this than I have had in a long time!

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who took the time to lurk upon my story as I wrote it, Wolf Flash and KrzyKrn K for their reviews, and give special shout outs to DarkInSpace and notfromearth7 for their frequent reading and reviewing of my story. Your support was greatly appreciated, thank you guys!**


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